A parrot has saved the life of his owner from fire by mimicking the sound of the smoke alarm and running up and down his legs.

Peter Taylor, from Mirfield in Yorkshire, had taken out his hearing aids and was asleep when the fire broke out. Merlin, his African Grey parrot, raised the specially fitted alarm, which he had learned to imitate.

"Sometimes when I am cooking he will come out with the noise," said Taylor. "I have to tell him that there is no fire and he will stop doing it. But he has got it perfect."