PENGUINS living half a world away are set to pick up pullovers made by patients at a York hospice - to help them keep warm.

The jumpers, knitted by daycare patients at St Leonard's Hospice, in York, will be shipped to Australia to aid birds left stricken by an oil slick.

They decided to create the mini-sweaters for the small Fairy Penguins which live on the coasts of Tasmania and New South Wales, after seeing a news story about the birds.

They were rescued from oil slicks just off the coast and the detergents used to clean the crude oil from their feathers also rob the penguins of their natural waterproof oils and make them susceptible to the cold.

Now some of the penguins will be kitted out in new, multi-coloured jerseys made by patients at the Tadcaster Road hospice to keep them warm while their feathers regain their natural protection.

The daycare patients have made more than 50 of them, which will be sent to the Penguin Rescue Fund, in London.

Barbara Jackson, daycare leader at the hospice, said: "Many of our patients, who come to us one day a week for practical help and social relaxation, have really enjoyed making the penguin pullovers."