THIS owl found a comfy spot in a policeman's hat after he rescued it while out on patrol on a North Yorkshire country road early today.

Traffic Constable Rob Roberts said he was driving in Nidd, between Ripley and Knaresborough,at 1am today during a search for a missing person when he spotted the injured owl.

He said it limped down the road, dragging its wing, and so he put his gloves on and caught the bird, and on an impulse put it in his cap.

When he returned later to the police station in Harrogate - the missing person having been found - a charity recommended the owl should be put in a cardboard box in a quiet dark place until experts could come to pick it up.

He said he understood the RSPB had since come to collect the bird, which he understood was a tawny owl.