Seagulls are a common sight in the fishing village of Porthleven - but one visitor had to look twice after seeing a parrot join their ranks.

As a former member of the Royal Navy bird control unit, Paul Wilson is not without experience in all things avian - and he immediately took action.

Meanwhile Skittles the Red Macaw had been blown off course and left lost for three days before she was found by Paul on Saturday ten miles from home, the day after bird sanctuary Paradise Park put out an appeal for help in finding her.

Although Paul had not seen the appeal, his first thought was to call the park about such an usual sight - leading to a welcome reunion for Skittles and her keeper Danny, joined by park director Nick Reynolds.

Announcing the good news afterwards, the park thanked everyone who had kept an eye out for Skittles, saying: "Thank you so much for your amazing response to our appeal for sightings.

"[Saturday] morning she was spotted in Porthleven and she quickly came down to the keepers, hungry and tired but all okay."

Skittles is one of a flock of Scarlet Macaws that fly free around the park near Hayle for up to four hours a day.

Five-year-old Skittles, who was was hatched in August 2015, has been free flying regularly since March 2017.

However, on Wednesday there was a sudden sharp increase in wind that caused four of the birds to be blown off course.

Three of the four were found and returned home within two hours of them going missing, thanks to the help of local people who called in and reported their whereabouts - but Skittles had not been seen.

It led to the park issuing an appeal for help on Friday, asking for people to report any sightings, which was shared on Facebook 3,000 times.

The park added: "We also had lots of reports of sightings of her on social media; thank you to everyone that kept an eye out for her and informed us of any sightings and for sharing our post."