Eagle swoops into Dorset living room

They then phoned a local bird of prey rescue centre and an expert spent 30 minutes getting the young eagle off its makeshift perch using a dead chick.

It was then reunited with its owner and falconer James Moore who revealed the young bird was called Storm and was being trained to ward off seagulls at a nearby landfill site.

It had been reported missing three days prior to turning up at Ms Morrells house after it was frightened by a loud bang and broke its tethers.

Ms Morrell, a retired maths teacher in her 50s, said: "We were about to watch the final of the French Open tennis when this big black thing swooped into the room.

"We have had small birds fly into the patio doors before and I thought it might have happened again but then Karen said 'it's an eagle'.

"We couldn't believe it. Initially there was total panic - our two dogs were in the front room and they both jumped to their feet and started barking.

"We took them into a bedroom and shut the door then went back into the lounge to get a proper look.

"There was the huge eagle, around 18 inches tall, sat on top of the wooden glass cabinet.

"It had knocked over a few ornaments and then started pecking away at a bowl of pot pourri.

"We thought about trying to tempt it back outside and tried putting ham outside but it didn't work so we called the police who put us in touch with Wessex Bird of Prey Rescue.

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Eagle swoops into Dorset living room