"Don't wanna be... owl by myself..."

My son has quite an unusual job: he works at a place called Owl Magic - one of only a handful of owl breeders in the UK. Sometimes when he goes to collect a new owl, he'll ask me to drive, so he can look after the little thing if there are any emergencies.

On the day The AA rescued us, we were travelling back home from Preston to Kilmarnock after picking up a two week-old baby Old Pharaoh Eagle Owl; one of the rarest breeds you'll find in Britain.

We'd only got about two miles in to our return journey when a warning light came on and we had to pull over. Right away we called The AA. They were there within an hour.

Unfortunately the problem - a small hole in the radiator, which had leaked all of the car's water - couldn't be fixed roadside. So the patrol called the recovery team, who again were super quick.

Less than an hour later we were in a tow truck, with my son holding the baby owl on his lap in a little box. But because we were going such a long distance we had to switch tow trucks along the way, so the rescue patrols didn't venture outside of their area.

You'd think that would be a faff. But at every switch there was another AA rescue patrol there already waiting for us, like a bright yellow human relay!

They were lovely too - very friendly and attentive, and really interested in their feathered passenger. There were asking about it, petting it, making sure it was okay... I don't think they'd ever rescued an owl before, let alone a baby one!

And for his part, the baby owl wasn't phased at all. In fact he was perfectly happy in his box, getting all the attention.

He's much bigger now, and we've called him Orion. In fact, we recently took him to a school to show him to the children. We didn't need rescuing this time - but I still kept my AA card on me, just in case!

Tracey Leonard, AA Member