POLICE in Ferryhill refused to get in a flap when they received a report of an eagle owl perched on a telegraph pole in nearby Bishop Middleham.

Local PCs Steve Moralee and Graham King realised the bird was a life-sized plastic model.

The model had been put there by telephone company BT to stop crows sitting on the telephone wires.

A similar bird sits on a pole a few streets away, and it also caused a flutter when it appeared a couple of years ago.

PC Moralee said: "The man who rang said he recognised it as an eagle owl, but I was fairly certain what it was.

"I seem to remember the calls we had first time around. To be fair they look pretty realistic from a distance."