A West Kilbride mum was amazed to find a starfish in her back garden following Storm Isha despite her home being two miles from the coastline.

Local pharmacist Shenagh McKiernan lives in Meadowfoot Road with her husband Owen, an air traffic controller.

The couple discovered the starfish in their garden on Monday morning and took a photo of their discovery.

Largs and Millport Weekly News:

Shenagh, 53, said: "It was a bizarre find in our back garden. 

"I could see through the back window something caught up in the leaves and it had a strange shape.

"I thought it looked like a starfish and then I thought no - it couldn't be. The next thought I had was it could have been dog poo or a bit of twig.

"When we went out for a closer look, sure enough, it was indeed a starfish. We live nowhere near the coastline in West Kilbride, it is around two miles away. It is really odd.

"It was dead and one of its tenders was hanging off and it looked mutilated - which might have been caused by the storm or by a cat. 

"It could have been brought by a seagull but it still seems quite a long distance to come before dropping it. It was lying in the middle of the back grass."

The mum-of-two, who works part-time at the West Kilbride GP Surgery, said the starfish was "a really odd and strange thing" to find in your back garden on a Monday morning.

She added: "I know there were reports of tornado warnings across the west of the UK last night, and it must have been rough at sea but this starfish has certainly come quite a distance to make it to Meadowfoot Road.

"We had a bit of a chimney blown down and some damage to some nearby trees and we must just have been in the eye of the storm. There was also a big planter which got damaged after it had blown over and some damage to the patio table

"It will be interesting to know if other people have found anything as bizarre as this in their back gardens from Storm Isha."