A kitten has become the star of a Royal Navy and Marines charity calendar after it survived a 300-mile journey in the bumper of a car. The tiny cat was found on the bumper of Lieutenant Nick Grimmer's car, a naval helicopter pilot, after he had driven from Birmingham to Cornwall via Bristol and Bath.

After completing his journey, Lieutenant Grimmer heard a very quiet meowing coming from his car. The pilot, who flies submarine-seeking Merlin helicopters with the 814 Naval Squadron, looked for the source of the noise, eventually discovering the tiny and frightened kitten.

Lieutenant Grimmer said: "I looked in the boot, under the bonnet and climbed all over and under it and still couldn’t find what was making the noise. 
  
"I called up some of our air engineers who came and helped me to start dismantling my pride and joy. On taking off the rear bumper we were greeted by a tiny tiger-striped kitten."  

Despite his long journey huddled in the car bumper, the kitten was unharmed, if a little bit shaken. After he was fished out of his hiding place, Lieutenant Grimmer took him to work with him so as not to be late.

It seemed that this suited the kitten perfectly as he feels most at home inside his new owner's flying helmet, and this is the only place he's able to fall asleep. Despite attempts to find the kitten's owners, they had no luck and so Lieutenant Grimmer adopted him and has given him the name Tigger.

The unlikely duo is now featured on the cover of the Royal Navy and Marines Calendar. The 2017 Flying Tigers and Kittens calendar features a kitten on every page and was produced by the 814 Naval Air Squadron, Merlin Force and supporting teams at Royal Navy Air Station Culdrose. 

Each person featured in the calendar and those who took the photos gave up their own time to be involved, with many individuals just having returned from deployment.

You can find out more about the calendar and where to buy it here.