Twitcher Pam Siddons didn’t need binoculars the day she peered through her window to study birds as part of a national garden watch.

For perched in a tree with its enormous talons clenched around a sturdy branch was the biggest bird she had ever seen in the wild...a Harris Hawk.

The 2ft bird of prey – clearly lost to a falconer – was so huge that Pam, of Old Lansdowne Road, in West Didsbury, could admire it without field glasses.

She was treated to its majestic presence for a full 24 hours as it remained roosted in the same place last Tuesday and Wednesday.

And the hawk returned, to what she thinks is her favourite branch, several times over the weekend.

"She looks like she has just dined out," said Pam. "She just sort of flops gracefully into the branch like she is bloated to bursting.

"At first she watched some small birds eating off my garden table and once stared inquisitively at a cat. But she didn’t really budge."

When a man arrived last week in a van, with a gauntlet on his hand and waved sticks and strings about she thought the hawk – whose diet consists of small birds, lizards, mammals and large insects – would be captured.

But big bird, which appears to be carrying an injury to its neck but otherwise looks healthy, just cast him an imperious glance and performed a bit of a shuffle before stubbornly settling back deep into the branch. And nobody has been back since.

"He wasn't her owner but he was an expert because he knew she was female," said Pam. "He tried to coax her down and was on a mobile phone all the time. He was clearly in a rush to get off.

"He said she had been sighted for the past month around Whalley Range and Platt Fields but eventually he had to go."

Teacher Pam couldn't believe her luck as she was used to sighting blue tits, sparrows and blackbirds and logging their frequency for the RSPB’s Big Schools Birdwatch.

She is sure the sighting will cause a bit of a flutter amongst RSPB brass when they spot a Harris Hawk on her list.

Mum-of-two Pam, who is chairman of the West Didsbury Residents’ Association, laughed. "She certainly made my day."

Experts say the bird is not a threat to cats or dogs.

A spokesman from the British Falconry Club said it was clear the hawk was lost and needed reuniting with its owner as soon as possible.

"If anyone sees her they should report it to the police," he said.

"These birds of prey don’t usually stray far so it is likely she is owned by someone living locally."