An animal lover has described helping to rescue an exotic bird spotted wandering in a residential street. 

Lorraine Goodsell, 48, of Evelyn Road, Walthamstow, received a knock at the door yesterday from her neighbour Rachel Roger and children, who said a Golden Pheasant had been spotted strolling along the street. 

Ms Goodsell said a "wild goose-chase" ensued, with teachers and pupils from nearby Henry Maynard School, neighbours, a gas engineer and two men, chasing the exotic bird, which has distinctive bright yellow, red and blue feathers, along the street. 

She said: "My partner and I were trying to get it; the kids from Henry Maynard were chasing it. It was quite farcical. 

"As several people were running after it, I shot down the road to borrow a cat cage from a friend in Brooke Road. 

As I was away, two young men who had been sitting in a car had managed to get hold of it."

The pheasant, native to central western China, was then taken into Ms Goodsell's home, where she lives with nine cats, and locked away in her bathroom until a volunteer from a swan sanctuary, recommended by the RSPB, arrived at around 9pm. 

She added: "How the bird survived is a miracle with all the cats down our road, fast moving traffic in Barrett Road and wild foxes roaming around." 

There are currently only 50 to 100 pairs of the male Golden Pheasant in the UK, which are confined to forestry plantations and dense woodland.

They were brought into the UK over 100 years ago as an exotic bird for private collection.  

For more on this story, see this week's Guardian - out Thursday