Kent Online visitors have been guessing all morning as to what species of bird decided to zoom into a Maidstone house last week – and the verdict was pretty much unanimous.

The winged visitor soared through the back door of 74-year-old William Coomber’s Woodville Road house last Monday, leaving an odd trail of feathers in its wake.

Mr Coomber managed to take a quick snapshot of bird on a bedroom windowsill before releasing it.

As the flying visitor failed to leave a calling card - other than a messy surprise in the Coomber's shower - the family were puzzled as to exactly what species the bird was.

His daughter-in-law Alison said: “He got such a great picture of the bird, we thought someone might be able to tell us exactly what kind of bird it is – and how common they are in this area.”

Tony Woodrow from Chatham was the first person to take a guess: “Looks like a Sparrow Hawk to me,” and Kevin Barnes from Dartford agreed: “I suspect that the bird is a juvenile sparrowhawk. What a lucky chap to have a visitor like that.”

As more guesses came in, some people got in a bit of a flap themselves, such as Troy Smith from Barming, who cried: “It’s a SPARROWHAWK!!!!!!!”

Confirmation came from to Chris Brown in London, who wrote: “It’s a juvenile sparrowhawk. I know ‘cause I’m from RSPB.” Verity Smallrige from Gravesend was also pretty certain of the breed, since she had spotted another sparrowhawk in her sister’s back garden on Sunday.

But not everyone was in agreement. Poor old Terence Hooper over in France wrongly mused: “I think it's a Perregrine Falcon.”

RSPB South East spokesman Paul Outhwaite confirmed the bird was indeed a female sparrowhawk, and said it had probably been closing in on a smaller bird when it mistakenly flew into the house.

“Sparrowhawks are becoming much, much more common now, after steadily rebuilding in numbers since the 1960s.

“When I went bird watching in Kent in the 1980s, seeing a sparrowhawk was a notable experience.

“Now, I’d be surprised if I didn’t see one.”

Sparrowhawks are similar in appearance and size to the kestrel, but their shorter wings make them far more agile and acrobatic.

They also do not hover above their prey, but glide and soar through woodland, often very close to the ground, searching for smaller birds to devour.

There are approximately 40,000 sparrowhawk pairs in the UK.