A bird spotter hoping to get a picture of a rare eagle-owl was taken by surprise when the avian predator landed on his head.

Wildlife photographers had flocked to the town of Hilversum in the Netherlands after hearing that a large Eurasian eagle-owl, usually only spotted in remote forests, had been seen on the roof of a house near some playing fields.

Chris Meewis caught on camera the hilarious moment when the bird lover found himself the centre of attention as one of the largest species of owl chose his head as a perch.

The photographer was lining up to take a picture of the rare eagle-owl in flight when it landed on his head

The amazing image was captured by wildlife photographer Chris Meewis, pictured, who went to see the owl

Father-of-two Chris, 59, said: ‘We were all there waiting to see if we could spot this owl and photographers had come from all over to see it as it is a really magnificent bird.

‘It was supposed to be living on the roof of this house near some playing fields and everyone had set up their cameras but were yet to spot it. Suddenly out of nowhere this huge shape appeared and landed on one of the photographer’s heads.

‘It was so funny as all of the cameras suddenly turned on him. There he was thinking he was the one taking the picture and suddenly he finds himself the centre of one! Everyone was laughing but he was in complete shock and just stood there very still.’

The owl stayed on the unnamed photographer’s head for around 10-15 seconds, flapped its wings a few times and repositioned its talons, before flying off towards the trees.

Mr Meewis, who works at a garden centre, said: ‘The eagle-owl really was huge and had huge talons so it must have hurt the man’s head quite a lot and been very heavy to have standing up there like that.

‘Once the owl flew off the man was checking his head to see if it was bleeding and he looked surprised when he found it wasn’t - he just had a few light scratches. He was very lucky as the owl had some very big claws indeed.’

Mr Meewis had not taken his usual camera that he uses for photographing wildlife and only had his Fuji Compact with him so was pleased with the results.

Chris and his fellow twitchers flocked to Hilversum in the Netherlands when they heard about the eagle-owl

The wildlife lover, who lives in Hilversum, Netherlands, said: ‘I was really chuffed that I got the best picture of the owl on his head. There were all these photographers there with their huge cameras and big lens and then I managed to get the best picture with my little compact camera - I was quite surprised.

‘When I got home to show my family and friends, everyone laughed so much at the picture, some people thought I had messed with the picture in Photoshop but it was real.

‘It was just a shame that I only got one picture of the moment, but the bird appeared so quickly and was gone so quickly that no one really had time, so I should consider myself lucky.’

It is not the first time that an eagle owl has caused problems for residents in the Netherlands.

In March this year, one of the birds was dubbed the ‘terror owl’ by residents of the Dutch city of Purmerend after more than 50 attacks on humans.

The Eurasian eagle owl can have a wingspan of up to six feet and can weigh in at a whopping 3kg (6.6lb).

The Eurasian eagle owl’s longest talon typically measures about an inch, although its claws can grow as large as 2.3ins.