This is the moment a bird of prey was rescued by firefighters after getting stuck in a tree.

A Harris hawk was rescued by a crew from Rickmansworth fire station after getting stuck in a tree behind the Waterside pub, Uxbridge Road, on Sunday morning.

The Harris hawk, called Leon, became trapped after its tether got tangled in the branches of a tree which was 15 metres high. It had escaped while his aviary was being cleaned.

A ladder was placed in amongst some bushes which allowed firefighters to climb up and reach Leon, who has predominantly black feathers with brown wings.

Watch Commander David Tams climbed up a huge 13.5 metre ladder to rescue the stricken bird from the tree.

He said: “The owner gave me the glove for handling Harris hawks and told me how to handle it. I climbed up, cut away the branches, lifted it by its legs and brought it down.

“Normally, if you rescue a pigeon, it dies afterwards and you can really feel its heartrate while it is being rescued, but with this one, he was as cool as a cucumber.

“When I got him down, he looked fantastic.”

The rescue attempt took an hour.

RSPCA animal collection officer Grace Mead said: "Leon was on the highest branch, about 30ft up and was tangled by the jesses on his legs. 

"The fire service were fantastic. It was a very difficult rescue but it went very smoothly. They climbed up the tree with a ladder and had to cut some branches to reach Leon. 

"They cut the jesses and brought Leon down. Fortunately he was not hurt. His owner was so pleased and relieved to have him back, he absolutely adores him."