A toddler's favourite doll is back in her arms after it was snatched by dive-bombing seagulls.

Yasmin, a two-year-old girl from Bodmin, was left sobbing in a local park when a seagull dived down and grabbed the doll, called 'Baby'.

Yasmin's dad, Matthew Blanchard, explained the ordeal: “Yasmin was happily playing on the swings and taking her baby down the slide. There were lots of seagulls in the park just dotted around, and she managed to drop the baby as she was walking up the hill.

"The seagull took the opportunity and dived in and grabbed it."

Mr Blanchard continued: “I thought once it realised it wasn’t food it would let it go, but then all the other seagulls thought it had some food on it, so they all dive-bombed the baby dolly.”

After a seagull-scuffle, one of the birds then proceeded to carry and drop the doll onto the roof of a nearby school.

"I had to get her out of the park because she was so upset," Mr Blanchard said.

"I convinced her that somebody would be able to get it down for her another day, but I couldn’t see any way of us getting it back."

After the distressing situation, the family made contact with the local town council who managed to rescue ‘Baby’.

A Bodmin Town Council worker was able to reunite Yasmin with her prized possession.

Yasmin’s dad Matthew said that she has not let go of Baby since.

"It was just a small gesture which meant a lot to Yasmin. She was over the moon when she got that baby back and she hasn’t let it go since," Mr Blanchard said.

The family said how grateful they were to Bodmin Town Council for their efforts in rescuing the doll.Marie Tonkin-Couch, Bodmin Town Council's receptionist who received the report, said: “It was reported to us just like any other enquiry and we were only too happy to help.“I took the call initially and passed it on to the relevant team. Our parks team then went up and retrieved the doll and we were later able to return it to the little girl’s grandmother.“It was a rather unusual occurrence for us, I’m not sure what the seagull thought it was going to achieve, but like I say we are only too happy to help retrieve lost items if we can."