Man speaks of his surprise after finding a puffin while he was out walking his dog

Stephen Ward, who is self-employed from Haswell, managed to catch the bird and kept him in the bathroom to keep it safe overnight before alerting the RSPCA.

Puffins tend to spend the winter at sea before coming to the UK’s shores in spring and summer to breed, however they rarely come inland.

Experts believe the small bird had got lost and Stephen, 49, said: “I saw it flapping in a tree when I was out walking the dog, I wasn’t sure if it was hurt or not but it took me about 15 minutes to try and catch it.

"It was a surprise, I could tell it was a colourful bird and I knew what a puffin looked like so it was strange to see it this far in land.

"I took it home to keep it safe as I thought that a fox may have got to it if I didn’t.”

Stephen posted his find on social media and managed to gain quite the reaction.

He added added the April 25 surprise: “I’m one of these people who tends to find things that no one else seems to find but no one believed that I had actually found a puffin.

"I posted a video and photos on Facebook and everyone just kept saying that only I would be able to find something like this.”

The puffin was deemed healthy and taken to the Headland, in Hartlepool, to be released back into the wild.

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