Darren Pardoe, a maintenance worker, was bird-proofing houses in the English town of Porthleven in Cornwall, when he took a coffee break at a local pub on 3 June.

He was in the middle of a conversation with someone when he turned and saw the gull sipping his hot brew.

“I think it had remembered me,” he joked.

Mr Pardoe added: “I turn round and sure enough a seagull’s got its beak in my coffee… next minute the bird picks up the coffee cup by its handle and takes off across the harbour with it.

“It flew round the harbour and then landed on the water, put the cup down, and the cup just sank.”

Mr Pardoe captured a photo of the bird fleeing with the mug.