BABY birds have a new des res thanks to a soap powder box and the quick thinking of a Swaledale man.

When their nest fell down, four housemartin chicks were left helpless on the ground and likely prey for stalking cats.

Luckily their plight was spotted by Paul Hodgson, who rigged up a makeshift nest from half a soap powder carton.

"I put the chicks in and, within minutes, the parent birds resumed feeding their offspring as if nothing had happened," he said.

Mr Hodgson had been watching the nest, in the corner of a window on the house next door to his Gunnerside home, for a fortnight before the drama unfolded.

"I noticed one morning that the nest had fallen down and, as the house is a holiday home, I contacted the owners to ask if they minded if I did something. They were quite happy with that and the soap powder box was to hand. I do design buildings for a living but this was a first."

A week later, on Tuesday, the first of the four fledglings flew and Mr Hodgson expected the others to follow within days.

"Hopefully they will go off to Africa in September and perhaps return here next summer," he said.