Rescuers spent three-and-a-half hours rescuing a wood pigeon from a chimney – and had to knock through a wall to do it.

Volunteer Joelle Larney received an emergency call earlier this week and was sent to a man's home in Gravesend who could hear a trapped bird behind his fireplace.

The 57-year-old asked a friend from South Croydon Animal Rescue to meet her at the house in Medhurst Crescent with his power tools.

They arrived at around 7pm on Tuesday and realised the space behind the fireplace had been blocked off and was a solid brick wall.

Joelle said: "There must have been a few spaces that allowed the bird to fall through. She would not have been able to get back out on her own.

"The finder, Lee, had heard her moving before we showed up but she had stopped. She was traumatised.

"Then we heard her. Lee said to me 'we have got to get her out, we have got to get her out'. So we started drilling holes in the wall to find her."

It took the pair three-and-a-half hours to rescue the wood pigeon who was named Winnie.

They were able to find her in the third hole they made in the wall after shining their phone torches into the gap.

"There was so much dust and debris," added Joelle, who also works for South Croydon Animal Rescue and London Wildlife Protection.

She took Winnie back to her house, in East Hill, Dartford, where she runs a micro-sanctuary for birds and gave her a thorough check-up.

Joelle flushed the bird's eyes, cleaned her nostrils, and made sure she was hydrated before releasing her.

She added: "She could not wait to go, they do not do well in captivity. She was strong when she flew away. She knew she was home.

"It was really heart-warming. It was the compassion of the finder that struck me. A lot of people would not have done the same to their front room.

"We have had to remove birds from chimneys before but nothing like this. This was the longest and hardest chimney rescue I have done."