A charity has built a new aviary for the Wildlife Park’s critically endangered parrots.

Supporters of the Curraghs Wildlife Park (SCWP) built the new home for Lilacine parrots Lila and Chester.

It provides a lot more flight space as well as a cosy nest box and lots of branches to climb, according to the charity.

The new aviary was constructed by work parties with teams from Utmost Wealth, HSBC and Cayman National led by Graham Harvey, SCWP project manager.

SCWP said: ‘Everyone worked hard to build the new aviary, to meet the needs of the parrots whilst allowing visitors to get great views of them.

‘Lila has been at the park for a while and is 23 years old but her new partner arrived from Chester Zoo earlier in the summer – and is only a few years old. These parrots can live for 50 years and pair for life and, so far, Lila and Chester are getting on very well.’

With only a few thousand of these birds left in the wild in Ecuador, population management within zoos is ‘essential’ to secure their survival.

Mr Harvey said: ‘It is a pleasure to watch Lila and Chester exploring their new home and it makes all the effort in building it so worthwhile. Many companies get involved with our “Make a difference days”, enabling their staff to contribute positively to facilities for the park’s visitors, animals and conservation programmes and we are very grateful for their support.’

Kathleen Graham, general manager of the Curraghs Wildlife Park added: ‘SCWP’s work parties help us provide the extras that make the park a great environment for our visitors and animals.

‘We are part of a network of 400 zoos which work together to manage populations of endangered animals in our care. We hope that the new aviary with encourage Lila and Chester to breed.’