Chimney sweep offers advice after Corpusty owl rescue

Darrel Cucu managed to rescue two owls after they became trapped in a chimney

A chimney sweep has urged people to install bird guards after he was called in to rescue two owls that were stuck in a chimney.

Darrel Cucu went to a house in Corpusty, Norfolk, after the owners heard hooting from their chimney.

He had to remove a woodburner before he could take a look, and saw the tawny owls' wide eyes staring back at him, as the Eastern Daily Press first reported.

Mr Cucu manage to free both owls and they flew off through a window.

He told BBC Radio Norfolk he was no stranger to being called out to pigeons or starlings stuck in chimneys - but tawny owls were a different matter altogether.

When Mr Cucu put his camera up the chimney, he saw this staring back at him

"They were about three metres (10ft) up in the chimney," Mr Cucu said.

"They were a couple of tawny owls and they were staring at my camera when I put it up the chimney.

"They were literally staring at it - looking down to me.

"You couldn't just grab them... so I had to try to destabilise them to make them fall down the chimney to grab them by hand."

He said the birds, which had apparently been stuck in the chimney for two days, seemed "quite well".

Both owls were let out of the window and flew off, apparently unscathed by their time up the chimney

The sweep managed to persuade one owl down, and it flew on to a window sill - and he captured the other in his hand.

Asked how they might have ended up in this predicament, Mr Cucu said: "They probably just fell in. That's a common issue and it happens often to birds."

He said the best way to avoid a similar mishap was to "fit a bird wire on to your chimney", which, he added, was especially important if the home's chimney was no longer being used and had been plastered over at ground level.

"They could be stuck for quite a while and the owner would not even notice that," he said.

"This time, though, it was a happy ending."