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Birds nest in ashtray at Birmingham factory Guhrings
A FAMILY of great tits have a home which appears to have its own intercom system.
They have transformed a metal ashtray at a factory in Birmingham into a nest.
Staff at Guhrings precision castings, in Castle Bromwich, say the mother tit has been fluttering back to the wall-mounted box for three years, and is now raising five chicks on a bed of moss, grass, and feathers.
A sign now warns workers looking to stub out their cigarettes: "Maternal duties in progress. Please do not use."
Jane Pryce, aged 47, of Guhrings' sales department, said: "She started building the nest about four weeks ago.
"We keep an eye on her every day and have a quiet look to make sure she has come to no harm.
"The first year she built there we did not know, and someone dropped a cigarette end in the box without realising. They heard a lot of banging inside and she flew off. But she came back, hatched eggs and raised chicks."
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