A junior doctor has ended up with a new pet after a goldfish mysteriously appeared in his garden.

Dr Ben Beska, 33, from Newcastle, said he saw a group of magpies squawking in his garden on Saturday and went out to investigate when he spotted the fish lying in the grass.

The NHS cardiology doctor retrieved the fish and placed it in a freezer drawer filled with water, and intends to keep it as a pet.

“It’s pretty mad really, finding a fish on the lawn. I have no idea how it got in the garden,” Dr Beska said.

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Dr Beska suspected a bird had picked up the fish from a nearby pond and dropped it while carrying it away.

However, he said, there were no ponds close by and he thought it must therefore have travelled a “reasonable distance”.