The real-life Privet Drive! Enormous 3ft-tall European eagle owl – a Harry Potteresque beast with a 6ft wingspan and able to carry off a small DEER

• European eagle owl has set up home on a cul-de-sac in Rossett, near Wrexham

You’d be forgiven for thinking this is one of the owls from Harry Potter perched on the porch of the Dursleys’ house in Privet Drive.

But while she might pass for a creature from the boy wizard’s fictional world, this huge European eagle owl is very much real.

She has set up home on a cul-de-sac in north Wales having swooped in on Halloween. Residents in the village of Rossett, near Wrexham, have taken her under their wing, despite some mystery over where she came from.

European eagle owls are not native to the UK. Those who have managed to get close to her say she has a leather strap on her leg, which suggests she has escaped from captivity.

Some locals are calling her Hedwig, after Harry Potter’s snowy owl, while Tina Brown, on whose porch she is pictured, said: ‘I call her Tallulah – Ta – looooo – lah – because that’s how her call sounds, it’s so loud.’

Predator that can kill deer 

• The European eagle owl is the world’s largest owl and lives up to 20 years
• Females are bigger than males, with wingspans of over 6ft
• Their size makes them capable of killing rabbits or even small deer
• But they live mostly on mice, voles and rats, other birds and even fish
• Not native to Britain, they are mostly found in Europe, Scandinavia, Russia and central Asia
• Females have distinctive ear tufts to attract mates

Mrs Brown, 60, added: ‘She’s a magnificent animal. She must have been in captivity because she is not frightened of me at all. She arrived on Halloween, which was a bit weird. I did wonder whether I was the chosen one. Would I be whisked off to Hogwarts or platform nine-and-three-quarters?’

Neighbour Roy Jones, 61, said of the owl: ‘She is massive. When she’s flying over there is a great big shadow on the ground from her wings.’ 

Another resident, Rob Blackwell, 69, said: ‘It stands over 3ft tall, up to waist height and it doesn’t hoot, it kind of growls.

‘I saw it one night when I was driving home. It was standing, watching something in the hedge. I wouldn’t approach it, it’s a big bugger.’

Grandmother Kay Hennessey, 61, said: ‘I’ve got a little dog called Rosie but Hedwig, as I call it, doesn’t seem bothered about Rosie at all. She’s not bothered about humans, cats or dogs. She’s taken a liking to Tina’s porch and now she’s here so often she’s like one of the neighbours.’

Falconer John Islwyn Jones said: ‘If she had escaped from a breeder or bird of prey centre someone would be looking for her, so it looks like someone maybe had her as a pet and has lost her or let her go for some reason.’