Youngsters at a Huddersfield school got a lesson in ornithology – when an unusual feathered visitor turned up in the playground.

The bird, identified as a chukar and normally native to Asia, appeared in the grounds at Christ Church CE Academy in Deighton this morning .

Melvyn Wade, the school’s premises manager, said staff identified the species by going online.

It is normally found in places as varied as the Rockies, California or even Hawaii, but now seems content to strut around in Deighton.

Mr Wade said: “It has been wandering around the car park this morning.

“When I got close to it, the bird tried to fly away, so we left it alone.

“It went into the Tiddlywinks nursery and doesn’t seem scared of people. We have also had the early years children out to have a look at it.”

Mr Wade said the bird – which “seems too fat to fly” – must have escaped from its owner.

“Someone must have lost it,” he said.

Unusual bird in the grounds of Christ Church Academy in Deighton.

The distinctively-marked chukar is a member of the pheasant family and is native to Asia, particularly Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

The chukar is the national bird of Pakistan.

It has been introduced widely as a game bird and feral populations have become established in the US Rocky Mountains, Great Basin, high desert areas of California and in Canada, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and Hawaii.

The owner can contact the academy on 01484 226595.