A CHIMNEY sweep came to the rescue after discovering that an owl had got itself stuck in a stove while he was working at a house in Polperro.

At first, Rob Stead thought it was a log laying in the living room stove, before realising it was an owl on closer inspection.

The 36-year-old immediately contacted the owner of the house, who had been away for four weeks, before carefully collecting the bird from inside the stove using a towel.

He then checked to see if the bird was ok and took him outside before it flew away, allowing Rob, who often finds nests and birds in the chimneys he cleans, to complete his job at the house.

Rob said: “It was my last job of the day and as I was laying down my sheets, I noticed something in the stove. It thought it was a log laying there but when I got closer I saw it was an owl which had started flapping around.

“I’ve rescued a robin and a jackdaw before, but never an owl, this is a first for me and may never happen again. I had no idea how long this poor owl has been trapped in there. He came all the way down a six inch flue liner and got himself stuck at the bottom of the stove.

“I thought to myself that the best thing to do was to get a towel wrapped around him, before taking him outside to the back garden. I held my hands up to see what he was going to do and he glided right into the corner of the garden.

“I checked on him a short while later and he was flying off so it looked like it had regained his strength and I thought that I’d leave him to it. I did think about whether I needed to call the vets to say I’ve got an owl with me, but he seemed alright so I left him to it and carried on my job as normal.”