Owl recaptured after two months

Wally had been making regular visits to Haylie House care home

A rare eagle owl which escaped from a falconry centre in Ayrshire two months ago has been recaptured.

Wally and his mate Annie escaped from Kelburn Country Centre during stormy weather in February.

Annie was recaptured a short distance from the centre just over a week later but Wally had eluded efforts to entice him back.

However, the four-year-old returned to his handler Alan Jenkinson over the weekend.

Wally had been making regular visits to Haylie House care home, near the falconry centre, where he allowed residents to approach and stroke him.

He was recaptured there on Sunday afternoon.

Mr Jenkinson said: "We got a call from Haylie House to say he was there again, and me and another guy from the centre went over.

"When we saw him, I thought he looked hungry, so we got out the glove, held up a mouse and he flew down straight away."

The care home residents had previously described how Wally had flown off whenever anyone from the falconry centre approached.

Mr Jenkinson has been Wally's handler since the owl was three-days-old

He had been feeding on squirrels and Mr Jenkinson - who has been his handler since he was three-days-old - said the availability of food was the main reason he had failed to return.

"I knew we would catch him when he was hungry," he said.

"I was always confident we would get him but I was getting a bit worried over the past week because we'd had reports that people were trying to catch him."

Mr Jenkinson said Wally would be given about a week to settle back in, before being reunited with his mate.

"When he first returned to Kelburn, he was the centre of attention, everyone was standing round his pen," Mr Jenkinson said.

"He blew up his feathers to make himself look bigger - he doubled in size - and that was to tell people to stay away.

"But he's back to normal today and will be back in the same pen as Annie before long."