About 70 miles off the coast, a barn owl faced an unexpected battle to survive far away from its home on land, hitting the water twice before finally collapsing onto a boat crewed by British soldiers during an offshore race.
Seeing that the bird was desperately searching for somewhere to land, the crew brought him aboard and later gave him the nickname Little Reg.
Here's what to know
According to the BBC, the incident happened when the Army Offshore Racing Team was competing around Britain and Ireland. After the owl was taken in, the soldiers cared for him until Caister Independent Lifeboat reached them offshore and returned the bird to land.
Mark Petherbridge, a member of the Army Offshore Racing Team, recalled to the BBC how the owl popped up by the boat.
"We saw it behind the boat; it came alongside and was sort of clearly tired," he said.
Petherbridge said the owl "fell in the water a couple of times and eventually collapsed on deck, so we picked him up and put him in a box." The crew then started calling the bird Little Reg, a reference the BBC said was tied to the parachute group Petherbridge belongs to.
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To James Stannard, a conservation officer for the Barn Owl Trust, the case stood out even among wildlife rescues, the BBC reported. He described it as "a very rare one" and said it was "nothing short of a miracle" that the owl managed to find the Army boat.
More background
Since barn owls can't survive well when they're far out at sea, Stannard suggested the bird might have been roosting on a fishing vessel before somehow being carried offshore, which could explain how it ended up so far from land.
With only ration packs available on board, the crew had little they could offer, and the BBC said Stannard believed the owl might not have survived without being taken back to shore.
Dan Goldsmith of Marine and Wildlife Rescue said Little Reg's next stop would be a veterinarian at East Winch Wildlife Centre in King's Lynn.
"It will be dehydrated, run down, quite thin," Goldsmith said, adding that responders hoped "it will make a full recovery."
What's being done?
After reaching land, the priority was getting the owl to a veterinarian as quickly as possible so treatment for dehydration and exhaustion could begin before any later decision about releasing him.
Goldsmith said the soldiers had been "amazing." The BBC also quoted Caister Independent Lifeboat chairman and crew member Paul Garrod, who said the crew was glad to help with the unusual rescue.
As Garrod put it: "We don't just rescue people. We've done dogs before, a horse before, seals, all sorts. We're all living creatures, and it's nice to help the little owl on his way."
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