PEOPLE walking in a village near Bidford got a shock when they were joined by a large eagle.

The bird was spotted by Martin Lister on Bidford Road in Broom last week. “I noticed a few people on the corner leading into High street. I stopped the car and realised the attraction was a bird of prey walking along the pavement.

“The bird did not appear to be in pain but was not attempting to fly. The general consensus of onlookers was that it had damaged his wing.”

The bird, an Indian Tawny Eagle, weighing about 3.5lbs, belongs to the International Centre for Birds of Prey at Newent in Gloucestershire. Director of the centre Jemima Parry-Jones explained how the bird had found itself in Broom. “I was giving a flying demonstration at Ragley Hall on the bank holiday weekend. This eagle is an old man now and he was blown away in the strong wind and then chased by crows and buzzards.

“He wears a radio transmitter, so we tracked him – obviously at times he was ahead of us! We got him safely back on the Monday evening.”

She added that he had been checked over by a vet and was in good health.