A dead owl has been spotted on a busy city centre road.

Anyone travelling down The Tything today might have seen something unusual on the road, a dead tawny owl

Worcestershire Wildlife Trust’s communications officer, Wendy Carter, explained the sight is not as strange as it may first appear.

“It looks like a tawny owl and whilst it seems unusual to find one on The Tything, there are a lot of trees and greenspaces in the wider area so there will be owls around,” she said.

“Tawny owls are early breeders, the first eggs are usually laid in February, and so they defend their territories right through winter.”

Speculating on what may have caused the bird’s demise, she added: “It might be that the one on The Tything was an interloper that was being chased from a territory or it may have been a resident tawny owl that met with an accident – either hit by a car or, if it had been spooked by something, flying into a window or overhead telegraph wire.”

Whilst it is likely that the owl died accidentally, due to the prevalence of bird flu in the UK at the moment, Defra is requesting that all dead birds are reported via https://www.gov.uk/guidance/removing-and-disposing-of-dead-wild-birds.

“Anyone finding a dead bird should be particularly mindful of good hygiene practice and Government guidance,” added Mrs Carter.

While there is no organisation responsible for collecting dead birds, any sightings of wildlife, dead or alive, can be sent to Worcestershire Biological Records Centre for recording on the county’s database.

A photo and location details can be submitted via www.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk/wildlife-sightings.