WHEN things go missing they are normally in the last place you look.

When the beak of a new blackbird statue in Spindleberry Park was ripped off by vandals in March, only 72 hours after the artwork was installed, park-goers thought they’d never see it again.

But nine months later, the missing beak has been found – right at the bottom of the Blackbird Leys park’s pond.

A group of volunteers, led by Monique van Assouw, cleaning out the pond dredged up the missing beak last Wednesday.

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Tany Alexander was the one to fish the beak out of the mud and silt at the bottom of the water.

She said: “We were busy trying to take out foreign objects from the pond and I just dug a little deeper because I was curious about what would be in the mud.

“When I pulled the rake out there was a yellow triangular wedge. I had no idea what it was but Monique knew straight away.

“It was an absolute surprise and very exciting.”

The Oxford City Council parks worker said: “That day was the first time I’d seen the statue and I was so sad that it had no beak.

“Little did I know I would be pulling it out of the pond a couple of hours later.”

Ms van Assouw is community project officer for the Conservation Volunteers, who are working in Blackbird Leys to improve green spaces.

She arranged for the group to buy the blackbird and three other statues with money from project funder Wren.

She said: “It was really great to find the beak.

“Hopefully we can restore the blackbird now.

“It’s a really iconic image because of the Blackbird Leys estate, it’s really perfect.

“We get people telling us how much they love it all of the time.

“It was such a shame when the statue was vandalised.”

Another vandalised sculpture of a deer is still missing its ears and antlers.

Creator Matt Cave, 36, said: “The blackbird alone would normally cost around £1,000, but it was for the park so I did them a good deal.

“It was a shame to see the statues vandalised so quickly, but apart from that they should stand up to the test of time. They work really well in the park because it’s a large space.”

Ideas for the sculptures came from girls taking part in the city council’s Community Development Initiative for the estate.

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