A WAYWARD owl did not give a hoot when it terrified a sleeping woman at the dead of the night.

Patricia Pennack screamed when she woke up in the early hours of yesterday to find a big pair of brown eyes staring back at her.

They belonged to a barn owl which had flown in through the bedroom window of her home in Stainforth Close, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

But despite the racket, the unruffled bird of prey continued gazing at her, impassively and silently.

Mrs Pennack, who is afraid of birds, said: "I felt something on my wrist and I thought the cat had come upstairs into the bedroom.

"But there was this owl sitting on my arm, so I screamed out and put my head under the sheets. I was really terrified - I couldn't believe it.

"My husband said it was a dream, but it was looking straight at me with its big, eerie, brown eyes."

Mrs Pennack plucked up enough courage to fetch the cat basket, coaxed the owl into it and left it in the kitchen for the night.

When she went downstairs in the morning it was still there - and still staring at her.

She thought the owl might have escaped from a bird of prey enthusiast who had been entertaining crowds at the Great Aycliffe Show that day, and managed to contact him.

Phill Gibbons, of Ridgeside Falconry, Spennymoor, said the bird had obviously been well looked after, but did not belong to him.

He said: "It is a lovely little bird, in good condition, but it's not one of mine, and I don't know whose it is.

"It has got a ring on, so if anybody has lost one they can have it back if they tell me the ring number and show me the certificate."

Mr Gibbons said this is the third barn owl he has had to recover this week, and added: "A lot of people are getting barn owls, but they don't make good pets."

He can be contacted on (01388) 420204.