No man should be left behind according to actress Virgina McKenna, well bird, in this case. The Born Free star campaigned for an injured cuckoo to be flown across Europe in order to catch up with the rest of her emmigrating flock.

The bird was nursed back to health after being found close to death in a garden in the UK but is still too weak to fly the full distance.

After  Virginia McKenna’s plea, British Airways agreed to carry the cuckoo to Italy where she will be released to meet the others going south.

She was put aboard the cabin of a Turin-bound 747 on Tuesday, accompanied by vet nurse Lucy Kells from the Wildlife Aid Foundation.

Foundation director Simon Cowell, who also hosts the Animal Planet documentary series Wildlife SOS, said: ‘Because she was tagged by the British Trust for Ornithology, we knew she was the last cuckoo to leave England.’

Ms Kells said: ‘She was in a very bad way when she came to us. She was found in the nick of time.’