The eagle landed on Linlithgow Golf Course!

However, mystery surrounds the unknown male pilot and his aircraft...as visiting golfers were playing at the time so little else is known about the drama last Friday.

What we do know is that the pilot landed safely near the ninth hole and, after checking out his flying machine, later took off from the 12th fairway – much to the astonishment of golfers on the course.

Luckily, no-one was injured and the pilot’s twin-seated plane did no damage to the course so competitors at events at the club on Saturday saw no hint of the unidentified flying object!

The club was sent images and video of the birdie, resulting in a fun caption competition being held on Facebook – the eagle has landed and birdie were among the puns.

Club secretary Grant Hamilton has tried to track down the photographer who submitted the pictures to the club, to no avail.

He said: “It’s all a bit of a mystery, we have our very own unidentified flying object!

“We’ve tried to find out more about the pilot and the incident but it was visiting golfers who were out on the course so we’ve stalled – a wee bit like the plane.

“Someone did capture video in which a male was seen crossing the field at the ninth hole and getting into a car; it’s pure speculation though that the pilot landed to let him off.

“It would have been a pretty risky thing to do if that’s the case but the main thing is no-one was injured and the course was unscathed too. It's certainly a first for us, though!”