Sparrowhawk and 'lucky' sparrow rescued from kitchen

The tiny sparrow (left) had a lucky escape after the sparrowhawk (right) caught it and flew into a kitchen in Wiltshire with it

A tiny sparrow had a lucky escape from the clutches of a bird of prey, after the predator flew into a house with it.

Felicity Hamilton, from Corsham, Wiltshire, said she discovered the sparrowhawk on her kitchen windowsill after hearing a commotion on Monday.

She said: "I didn't know the sparrow was with it until I saw a little ball of fluff drop on the counter."

Using a towel, she said she managed to rescue both the "dazed" sparrow and the frantic sparrowhawk that had caught it.

Armed with just a towel, Ms Hamilton said she managed to calm the bird of prey down by talking "very quietly" to it

Ms Hamilton, who is in her 60s, said she "couldn't see the sparrow at all" when she first spotted the raptor, which had entered through the back door, along a small passageway and into the kitchen.

"It still had hold of the sparrow and during it's frantic trying to get out of my window, it let go of it," she said.

"I saw something move and there was a little sparrow on my work top, it was a big surprise."

"Stunned" and "very dazed", Ms Hamilton said the "poor little" bird lay on her kitchen counter for a while before it "got to its feet".

"It walked across my work top and hid in the corner," she said.

"Which was very sensible as there was no way the sparrowhawk could get to it."

Ms Hamilton said the sparrow has had a "very spectacular escape"

Armed with a towel, Ms Hamilton said she managed to calm the bird of prey down by talking "very quietly" to it.

"It stopped flapping and I was able to put the towel around it and grab hold of it and release it out into my garden," she said.

"It flew straight off but it didn't go very far, I think it was a bit shook up.

"And the sparrow, it had a lucky escape.

"I left it close to the hedge where all the house sparrows sit and I'm sure he's joined his friends."

Sparrowhawks prey on a range of other types of birds.

Males can take birds up the size of a thrush. Females, which are large, are known to catch pigeons.