A pet parrot came to the rescue when his owner was attacked during an outing in a park.

A 25-year-old woman took her African Grey parrot, Wunsy, to Sunny Hill Park in Hendon at 12.30pm last Friday.

Wunsy enjoyed soaring through the air as his owner walked alongside him, but as the pair left the park, a man grabbed the woman by the shoulders and pushed her to the ground with both hands.

As this happened, Wunsy flapped his wings and squawked, startling the suspect who ran off towards Great North Road.

The parrot and his owner were unharmed during the assault and the woman quickly called police.

The man is described as white, between 25 and 35 years old with short blonde hair and was wearing beige trousers and a dark black rucksack.

PC Chris Cutmore from Colindale Police Station said: "This was a random attack on woman walking out of a park. Although the parrot, Wunsy, come to her rescue, we are obviously very keen to trace the suspect and prevent him from attacking anybody else.”