Giant Derbyshire topiary bird wows visitors

David Shawcross, 85, is seen here giving his giant 18ft tall topiary its spring time trim.He and his wife moved into his home in Callow, near Wirksworth, in 1966.

The house was partially derelict and the garden had been neglected for decades. But one spindly hawthorn sapling soon caught the couple’s eyes.

David, a retired art teacher said: “We didn’t choose it, it chose itself. It began to grow into a ragged and ramshackle bush but clearly had the shape of a chick. So I began to clip it to help it along. . It gets one big trim in the autumn but I always tidy it up during the Easter holiday too.”