AN Australian Wallaby has been spotted hopping across a field in North Yorkshire by stunned onlookers.

The wallaby, more used to the Australian outback, was seen at Tollerton, near York.

Michael Adamson and girlfriend Fabi Hammond saw it on Sunday, May 24, as it bounded across a field near them.

Mr Adamson, of Rawcliffe, York, said the 3ft tall wallaby was in the Warehills Bridge part of the village and it seemed to have a baby in its pouch.

He said: "Apparently there are quite a few wallabies in the country and they are on the increase."

There have been no reports of wallabies made around Tollerton by locals and the RSPCA has had no reports of the creatures in the area.

Mark Hebdon, who runs Monk Park Farm Visitor Centre, at Bagby, near Thirsk, said none of his wallabies had escaped.

He said if any were living in North Yorkshire they would have no trouble adapting to the climate or area.

There is thought to have been a population of wallabies living on the western part of the North York Moors during the 1960s.