A BIRTHDAY celebration was a squawking success as 29 birds gathered in the Lake District to mark the birthday of a social media sensation.

The gathering at Loughrigg Tarn was in celebration of Tommi – a military macaw who has just turned three.

Tommi belongs to Carlie Thomas and Dan Norrish who live just outside of London.

Carlie travelled with her family to the Lake District, stopping at Tethera Nook in Kendal.

Airbnb owner Emma Cowan was delighted when she received the unusual request for four free-flying macaws to join their owners at the retreat.

Emma said: “They booked a few months ago and we were really amused because we allow dogs here but they said do you allow other pets because we have four macaws and we are going to be celebrating one’s birthday by coming away together.

“I thought, we’re quite a bit eccentric here and didn’t mind.”

Carlie says her two parrots - Shelby and Tommi - have more than half a million followers between them with about a million followers between all four of the macaws.

Shelby first shot to fame in 2020 after Carlie downloaded the app TikTok and posted a short video of Shelby in her new aviary in the garden – the video went viral amassing over a million views.

Shelby and Tommi are free-flying macaws, which means that they are able to fly outdoors without the use of a harness, something Carlie says takes ‘lots of lots of training’.

“We travel up and down the country and we try to get somewhere new every year and fly them at various locations,” said Carlie.

Saturday saw 29 ‘birds, parrots and free-flying parrots’ gather at Loughrigg Tarn to fly around the lake together. The birds gathered from all across the UK from Scotland all the way down to Portsmouth.

It formed part of a three night stay at Tethera Nook in which Carlie and her family took in the sights of the Lakes. The parrots have also enjoyed flying around the holiday home.

“It’s lovely,” said Carlie. “We went to Windermere and it was stunning. The birds flew over the lake, and we had a beautiful time.

“At the Airbnb we are surrounded by countryside, the birds are flying around and around it.”

A video of Tommi’s birthday celebration will soon be released on the Shelby the Macaw YouTube channel.