VIDEO: Sutton man climbs 35 foot tree to catch parrot

Chris Phelan, aged 60, who is no stranger to heights as a builder, had to climb various trees and houses in a bid to coax his African grey Caesar down with his favourite biscuit, a custard cream. Caesar managed to avoid capture for two days by flying around Sutton – although Chris, of Huthwaite Road,said he had a “thousand eyes” looking for the parrot.Caesar, now aged 11, has has been with Chris since he was a few months and , Chris has said it was like ‘losing a kid’ when he went missing. He said: “I am glad to have him back. The community really came together looking for him – we wouldn’t have found him without them.“It was also very hot and he doesn’t know how to get his own water.”Chris was taking Caesar out of his outdoor cage and inside for the night when he was “spooked” and flew off. He said: “He never flies, but he must have been startled by something. “He flew up and I tried to grab him, but he flew across the road. “I was then walking around the streets shouting for him – I don’t know what people were thinking about me.”After he disappeared on Saturday, May 19, Chris spotted him across the street the next day. He said: “He knows the sound of my work van.“He likes to make the sound of it pipping. so I hit the horn and saw him sitting on my neighbour’s roof. “I tried to climb up to him but he flew off. I thought ‘oh no, I’ll never get him’.”Caesar was also spotted eating food from a food table in Brierley Forest. On Monday, May 21, Chris was called to a house on Siddalls Drive, Sutton, where Caesar was sat in the top of a 40ft sycamore tree. He said: “One lady who lives on the street said she has never seen so much excitement as me climbing up a tree trying to get him. “I tried to get him with a fishing net, but he flew off again.” Luckily for Chris and his wife Andrea, Caesar only flew around the corner onto Huthwaite Road, where Chris had to scale another tree. He said: “I thought this time: ‘I’m grabbing you, I don’t care what you do to me’ and I managed to grab him. “He did nip a bit, but he was frightened.”