A TAP at the window tells farmer Rob Fawcett at Woodhall in Wensleydale that the youngest member of the family wants to join him for lunch. That's if Spuggie the Sparrow hasn't already nipped in through the front door.

When Julie Fawcett found the day-old sparrow in the spring she and her family were not impressed.

"It was disgusting with pink flesh and a big beak, so we called it Gollum after that character in the Lord of the Rings."

But they took it in, made a nest by tearing up newspaper, and began feeding it dog food with tweezers.

The Fawcetts and their three children were fascinated at how the baby sparrow even knew how to keep the nest clean. As it thrived, they renamed it Spuggie. Then the day came when it was fully fledged and ready to fly out in the big wide world outside.

"We thought she had gone for good, " said Mr Fawcett. "I was just walking across the yard when it dropped at my feet. I could tell by its voice it was her. I whistled and she flew onto my hand and came in."

Now Spuggie has its own daily routine, taking beak-fulls of sugar from the sugar bowl for breakfast before going outside for a fly-about. At 1pm it heads home to join Mr Fawcett for a lunchtime sandwich, perching happily on his forearm or hand while he feeds it.

The Fawcetts did try to provide Spuggie with a proper dust bath, but it prefers the daily newspaper, then it's off for an afternoon snooze in a favourite spot above the Rayburn.

It is there that, soon after she learnt to fly, she found a nice comfy jug to sleep in at night.

Mrs Fawcett said Spuggie loved company - if they are not in, it will go and visit either Mr Fawcett's parents, Bob and Jean, or his brother and sister-in-law, Martin and Jill, all of whom live close by.

Their main fear is that the sparrow hawk which regularly hunts around their homes will catch it. But there are other dangers.

"She thinks that whatever Rob eats she can eat too,' said Mrs Fawcett. One day Mr Fawcett was about to take a small painkiller tablet when the phone rang.

"He put the tablet down and Spuggie ate it. We phoned the vet and asked 'how do you make a sparrow sick?' 'You can't', he said."

Fortunately, the bird recovered.