A shocked pensioner discovered burglars had stolen 35 pet birds from his garden - then found four of them on sale in a pet shop 15 miles away.
The bird breeder, who asked not to be named, woke up to find the prized collection he had been breeding for 20 years missing from his garden.
Burglars had ransacked the 12ft wooden aviary, in Church Road, Northolt, between midnight and 7am on Friday, February 3, stealing the rare cross-breeds of canaries and goldfinches worth up to £200 each.
After calling police, the victim was contacted the following day by a friend who claimed to have seen some of his birds at Heathrow Bird Centre, in Wraysbury, near Staines.
Police escorted the victim and his wife to confront the shop owner on Monday last week and retrieved four of the missing flock.
The breeder said he was disappointed police did not act sooner. He also had 15 birds pinched from his garden last summer.
"I'm disappointed, we had no support whatsoever from the police," he said.
"I really love my birds. I've been breeding them for 20 years. They've been crossbred over the years so they're very rare.
"The exact same thing happened last summer. I tried to make it more secure. I didn't think it would happen again.
"I padlocked the back gate but they must've come through my neighbour's garden.
"It's somebody who knows what they're doing. I'm not the only one - a friend in West Drayton said his birds were taken the night before."
Heathrow Bird Centre manager Gary Clark said: "If we knew they were stolen, we would never have bought them. We buy birds from the general public all the time."
Police are appealing for information from anyone who may have purchased or been approached to buy the collection, which included canaries, goldfinches, silver goldfinches, goldfinch mules, red poles and lesser red poles.
Detective Constable Tahlia Ciampini said: "This is a particularly heartless act of burglary which has left the elderly victim distraught.
"Putting the monetary value of the birds aside, this was a prized and cherished collection to which the victim had dedicated a large part of his daily life to nurture and look after."
One man has been arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods and bailed to return to a west London police station in March.
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