A Sheerness couple found themselves with an unexpected visitor after a bird of prey flew in through their front door.

The animal, believed to be a female Harris hawk, sat on the bannister at the bottom of the stairs in Gerry and Marion Cunningham’s home in Unity Street, Sheerness, for around 45 minutes on Sunday.

It has been spotted flying around nearby streets with a bell on its leg beforehand with several people posting pictures of it on Facebook and Twitter after it landed in their gardens.

Mr Cunningham, 55, said: “I was upstairs. My wife was downstairs in the living room and I hear a screech. At first I didn’t know what it was but then my wife turned around and said a bird had flown in the house.

“She called the police and they asked her to describe it and then they said it was a hawk.

“They told my wife to close all the windows and someone will be along to pick the bird up.

“They asked is there anyone else in the house and she said yes my husband is in the bathroom.

“They said I should stay up there just in case it wasn’t used to human contact. They said it probably wouldn’t have attacked someone but it was better to be safe if they weren’t sure themselves.

“Not too many people can say they’ve had a bird of prey fly into their house. It had such a brilliant temperament as well.”

The police contacted Ray Allibone of Swampy’s Wildlife Rescue to collect the bird from their house.

He had spent the morning trying to coax it down in St George’s Avenue and Second Avenue after but it had flown away.

The hawk, which is in a good condition, has two rings around its leg but efforts to trace the owners by entering the registration numbers on them into a national database have been unsuccessful. One of them appears to be from Doncaster and may be from a previous owner.

If you are the owner please call Mr Allibone on 01795 585405.