STAFF at a Hampshire hotel couldn’t believe their eyes when they went to clean one of its rooms – and discovered a live rooster strutting about.

The bird had been left in a room at Southampton’s Travelodge by its forgetful owner – who it was reunited with it hours later.

Chickens aren’t actually banned from Travelodges – but staff in Southampton did ask the owner to make them aware if he decides to take the bird on holiday with him again.

A spokesman said staff did not ask why he had taken the bird with him on his travels.

The rooster was among the most bizarre items left in the hotel chain’s Hampshire branches over 2013.

The hotel chain has revealed the broad variety of items left behind by guests at its 500 hotels across the UK, and they range from the mundane to the downright bizarre.

As expected, guests left behind hundreds of phone chargers, mobile phones, toothbrushes and bags.

But there were also items that must have raised eyebrows among staff when they were discovered.

At the Southampton Travelodge, staff discovered a gold Buddha statue, life jacket, microwave, a set of Enid Blyton books and some antique vases.

But the most bizarre thing they found was the rooster.

In the firm’s Eastleigh hotel, a microwave and a wedding cake were among the most unusual finds.

Elsewhere in the country, a prenuptial agreement, deeds to a £2m house, a set of exclusive trial yoghurts that have not been launched in supermarkets yet and a pet tarantula called Hercules were among the finds.

Items left behind at hotels which are not claimed within three months are donated to local charity shops.

Travelodge’s district manager for Hampshire, Matt Hawdon, said: “Each year, our lost and found inventory report provides plenty of interesting revelations and this year is the most remarkable yet, with our hotels in Southampton providing some of the most bizarre yet.”