A RESCUED owl was recovering today after being plucked from the roof of a Suffolk church by firefighters.Meanwhile a family of robins has found an unusual place to raise their young – the engine of a new van in Ipswich!A crew from Sudbury rescued the owl from the St Mary Church, in Watery Lane, Great Henny after it was spotted dangling from the porch roof with its leg trapped.

A RESCUED owl was recovering today after being plucked from the roof of a Suffolk church by firefighters.

Meanwhile a family of robins has found an unusual place to raise their young – the engine of a new van in Ipswich!

A crew from Sudbury rescued the owl from the St Mary Church, in Watery Lane, Great Henny after it was spotted dangling from the porch roof with its leg trapped.

The owl, which has been nicknamed Lofty, was seen in its stricken state by a passer-by at around 6.50am today.

The RSPCA was alerted, who then requested the assistance of fire crews at around 7.30am.

The bird was freed within 30 minutes and taken to the Ardmore Veterinary Group, in Cornard Road, Sudbury.

Abi Dutton, a senior nurse at the practice, said the owl is making good progress.

"We've been feeding it and it's taken some liquid and it seems to be doing well, she said.

"It's obviously wanting to rest and it keeps confusing us because one moment it looks like it's OK and then it doesn't.

"That's because it wants to go to sleep because it would normally be awake now. We're wary of handling it because we don't want to stress it."

The bird, believed to be a Tawny Owl, has been receiving treatment for a leg injury and is expected to be released tomorrow.

Mrs Dutton said: "Fingers crossed it should be OK and it will be released tomorrow.

"It's got a slight injury to its leg but we're hoping it's not bone damage. It looks like it got its leg trapped and was left hanging from its foot."

When staff at Anglian Water in Ipswich noticed the robin in one of their Ford Transit vans they were forced to abandon the vehicle while the chicks hatched – leaving the Transit rather static.

Steve Pietrowski , 51, from Felixstowe said the robin started nesting in the van at the start of May and its presence meant the vehicle couldn't be used.

"We had a new van delivered which was waiting in the yard to be used for the first time when I noticed a robin was gathering nesting material in the yard.

"The bird was building a nest in the engine compartment under the bonnet by flying up underneath the engine. We got the bonnet open and had a look in the engine compartment and saw the nest in there.

Steve, a service provision manager, said he then impounded the van so nobody would use it for the time it took for the baby robins to flee the nest.

"It actually took 24 days, so in that time we've had to make do with the old van.

"But now the robins have gone so we can finally use the new van!"