Freddy the rainbow-coloured parakeet, and owner Sylwia Kozlowska

A FAMILY who cut their holiday short after their bird escaped say they are “emotionally overwhelmed but relieved” to have been reunited with their pet after a frantic week of searching.

Sylwia Kozlowska, a website designer, was on holiday in the south of France when she got the call that her beloved plum-headed parakeet Freddy had gone missing near the Andover Estate.

“His head is reddish-purplish, with a long blue tail. He’s multicoloured. We really miss him, he means a lot to us,” Ms Kozlowska said at the time. “He’s like a baby to me.”

Ms Kozlowska’s mother-in-law Katy Macky, from Finsbury Park, was caring for Freddy when he escaped on Saturday. “I forgot he was there – I opened the door to the balcony and whoosh, he was gone,” Ms Macky said.

Ms Macky immediately called Ms Kozlowska to tell her what had happened. “They rushed back from France, booked an early flight and came back,” Ms Macky said.

Freddy was initially seen and heard around Andover Estate.

“He’s got a very distinctive voice: he makes a loud peeping noise from his throat, and he makes a noise a rude man might make if he was whistling after a girl: ‘whit whoot’,” Ms Macky said.

The bird looks “like a little rainbow,” she added. “His head is a plum colour and he’s got a long tail, with blues coming down his breast and a greeny-yellow mixing in, shaded with red spots.”

The family then plastered posters all the way down Holloway Road, around Finsbury Park and Stroud Green Road.

Earlier this week, he was spotted in Canonbury sharing snacks with passers-by, so posters were put up there too.

Freddy was found earlier this week by a man at Canonbury Station and yesterday (Thursday) Ms Kozlowska was finally reunited with the bird after the man saw the posters and called her to report Freddy had been found.

“Fortunately he was smart enough to realise he was someone’s pet and looked after him the past couple of days,” Ms Kozlowska said, adding she felt “emotionally overwhelmed but relieved”.

Freddy, who is 13 years old, has lived with Ms Kozlow­ska for the past decade, travelling with her from Poland to the UK.

According to Ms Macky, this is not the first time Freddy has gone missing. “He was lost once before in Poland when he was left with a neighbour. He went five kilometres that time.” On that occasion he was found after visiting someone’s home “because he was hungry,” Ms Macky said.

“They posted him on social media and Sylwia found him.”