A stolen Amazon parrot was handed into police by a man who found it in a shoulder bag behind a hedge in St Anne's.

Police say the man handed in the parrot, called Archie, at 8.30pm on Thursday night.

He then left Trinity Road police station, unaware that the owners of the pet had offered a £200 reward for his safe return.

Chris and Sue Harvey were devastated when they returned home from work to Pilgrims Wharf, St Anne's, to find they had been raided and have been searching for their blue-fronted Amazon parrot ever since.

The grey shoulder bag that Archie was found in belonged to Mr Harvey who carefully cajoled Archie out of the damp bag and into a transportable cage from where police were holding him.

Mr Harvey, 38, told the Evening Post: "Archie was a bit agitated when we got him home. He has only said one or two words, and managed to whisper 'hello', but we can't get anywhere near him.

"He tore into an apple to begin with, and is starting to settle down a bit more now."

He added: "To whoever handed Archie in – thank you ever so much. There should be more people like you around. The people of Bristol have all clubbed together to help us find Archie. We've had an awful lot of support."

Mrs Harvey, 41, added: "I honestly think that someone came to steal Archie but because he is injured they realised they couldn't get any money for him and dumped him.

"It's been a week since he went missing. We were very worried about what could have happened to him. We're delighted to have him back."

The family made a plea for the safe return of their talkative parrot in the Post after it was stolen by burglars .

The seven-year-old exotic pet is being treated for a condition that causes him to pluck feathers from his wings and the couple are becoming increasingly worried.

Mr Harvey was returning home from his job as an IT trainer for QA and Mrs Harvey was coming back from her job at Axa at about 4.45pm a week last Thursday, when they discovered Archie was missing.

The kitchen window was open and more than £4,000 worth of property was stolen from the house, including a laptop and some jewellery.

Also gone were about 40 pairs of cufflinks, including a pair with Formula One legend Ayrton Senna's yellow crash helmet on them.

Archie is talkative and his favourite sayings include "Archie wants a tickle" and "Archie, good boy". He also says "hello" and "all right".

The family has now made the difficult decision that Archie should now live with Mr Harvey's mum in Brislington in case burglars decide to target the house again.

Mr Harvey added: "It's a shame, but I see my mum five times per week so we'll still get to see him."