A YORK couple came home to find the strangest - and cutest - ever decoration on their Christmas tree ....an owl.

Ben Ferguson told how he was at work when he received a phone call from his girlfriend Aimy Taylor, saying there was an owl in their house in a village near York.

"I was a bit dubious that it was actually an owl, but came home from work early anyway," he said. "It turned out it certainly was an owl!"

He said Aimy sought advice and turned the lights off, opened the back door and vacated the house, in the hope that the tawny owl - which had come down the chimney - would leave of its own accord.

However, two hours passed with both of them waiting outside with their cat, who had been shut in with the owl all day.

"I went back into the house to see if the owl could be persuaded to leave, but it just flew into the front room and sought refuge in the Christmas tree!" said Ben.

He said they contacted the RSPCA, but it didn't class it as an emergency and nor could they find a local rescue centre that could help.

Ben then put out an appeal on Facebook, saying: “Slight owl in Christmas tree problem. Need it extracting by someone with expertise in areas other than welding and hairdressing.”

Some time later, a volunteer from York Bird of Prey Centre at Huby called round, equipped with bird handling gloves and a box in which to put the owl. "We didn't hear from him today, so we're unsure if he's released him as yet or not," he added.