Hawk freed from Chelmsford shop's rafters

David Wilkinson said it took five minutes to capture the hawk

A bird of prey which spent four days roosting in a shop's rafters after flying in has been released.

On Tuesday the sparrowhawk flew through the open front doors of Hobbycraft in Chelmsford.

Two licenced bird ringers from South Essex Ringing Group liberated the animal from the store on Saturday.

David Wilkinson, 26, described the hawk as being in "remarkably good condition considering the ordeal it's been through".

Ringer David Wilkinson said the invading bird was a sparrowhawk

The ornithologist worked with fellow ringer David Pallash to set up a type of net normally used in woodlands.

Bird ringing is a licenced activity by the British Trust of Ornithology to monitor information about the survival, productivity and movements of birds.

The ringers said they had to be careful to not damage the shop's lighting fixtures with their net

Mr Wilkinson said it was challenging manoeuvring around the shop's shelves to capture the hawk, "that's unfamiliar terrain," he said.

The duo set up nets after the store closed at 18:00 BST on Saturday, it then only took five minutes to capture the winged invader.

"It gave me a really nasty scratch which is good because it shows it had plenty of strength and character left," said Mr Wilkinson.

A ring was placed on the bird's leg and it was safely released outside.