Hannah Bourne-Taylor moved to Ghana with her boyfriend to build a new life. Little did she know, she will be raising a little bird and helping him grow up to build enough strength to reunite with its flock. To care for the abandoned flinch, Hannah built a nest in her hair and allowed the bird to make a comfortable home on her head till it was strong enough to survive on its own.
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Hannah Bourne-Taylor shares with the world her story of how she let a bird live in her hair for three months after it was abandoned by its flock.
Hannah and her boyfriend Robin shifted from their London home to start fresh in Ghana.
However, due to visa issues, she was unable to work the photographer says she turned to nature and began to 'learn the routines of local birds'.
Credit: Hannah Bourne-Taylor
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Following a 'particularly bad thunderstorm' in 2018, Hannah formed an especially close bond with one little 'fledgling finch' after it lost its way.
Writing about her bizarre and rather unique experience in The Guardian, she said: "He was abandoned by his flock, his nest blown from the mango tree.
"His eyes were tightly shut and he was shuddering, too young to survive alone. I placed him in a cardboard box with tea towels, mimicking a nest, and stayed up all night, researching how to care for him.
Credit: Hannah Bourne-Taylor
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"I spoke to an expert who said it would take 12 weeks to prepare him for the wild."
So Hannah decided to step up and care for the little guy till it is strong enough to survive alone. She started feeding him termites and watching as he fell asleep in her hand.
She went on: "As far as he was concerned, I was his mother. For the next 84 days, the fledgling lived on me. We became inseparable.
Credit: Hannah Bourne-Taylor
"He would fly alongside me, or cling to me as I went from room to room in the house, while we walked the grasslands or when I drove. He'd rest in my hand.
"As he learned to fly, he'd make short flights from my hand, to my shoulder, to my head, then abseil down my waist-length hair to rest again.
"Each day, he made little 'nests' in my hair, on the groove of my collarbone, which filled me with awe.
Credit: Hannah Bourne-Taylor
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"He'd tuck himself under a curtain of hair and gather individual strands with his beak, sculpting them into a round of woven locks, resembling a small nest, then settling inside.
"He would allow it to unravel when he was done and start again the next day."
After the flinch had built enough strength to survive on its own, eventually its flock also returned. So Hannah decided it was time for him to spread his wings and fly away.
Credit: Hannah Bourne-Taylor
During a Christmas break in England, Hannah told Robin to let him go.
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Upon returning, Hannah, who now lives in Oxfordshire, said: "I'd watch out for him when the finches flew past. Every now and then, one would hang back, on a branch, and stare at me. I still cry when I think of him.
"Raising him taught me how to live in the present and changed me for ever."
Hannah has since written about her time in Ghana in her new book, 'Fledgling', and talked about her peculiar yet life-changing experience too.
Credit: Hannah Bourne-Taylor