Budgie dies on Royal Navy warship after alarm bell gives it heart attack

A flyaway budgie which sought sanctuary on a Royal Navy warship died of shock after the ship’s alarm bell sounded. The yellow and green-feathered bird flew in to the amusement of sailors taking part in a training exercise on board HMS Westminster. It even perched on top of one of the sailors’ hats and was fed by the crew as they worked off Plymouth in Devon. The crew nicknamed the bird ‘Bostie’ and fed it on bread, nuts and water in the Executive Officer’s cabin.

But tragedy struck when a routine alarm sounded on board the ship – causing the budgerigar to have a heart attack. Attempts to revive the bird failed and the crew then bid farewell by offering it a ”burial at sea”. A Royal Navy spokesman said: ”The Executive Officer found the budgie on board and it kept the crew entertained for about two hours.



”It was very tame and we believe it may have been have been an escaped pet which had flown out to join us. Unfortunately, a general alarm sounded and it proved to be too much of a shock for the bird. We believe he suffered a heart attack. It was a sad moment for the crew and they decided to bury him at sea.”

The budgie arrived on board the frigate on Wednesday afternoon and was on board for around two hours before the siren went off. Executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Nick Wood, first spotted the tame budgie sitting on top of a communications box in the midship’s passage. Lt Cdr Wood said: ”I’ll miss Bostie. He was only in our lives for a brief time, but he made our day.” The cheeky bird perched on the head of Leading Seaman Mark Priestman, 29, during its visit.