It is back - a third sighting of the Foxearth wallaby reported as driver sees it sitting by roadside.

East Anglian Daily Times: Wallabies are native to Australasia Picture: ARCHANTWallabies are native to Australasia Picture: ARCHANT (Image: Archant)

The bouncing fur ball was seen at around 9.30am today by meter reader Henk Kuhlman, 56, a from Halsted, as was driving to a job.

He said: “It is such a distinctive looking creature, I was driving along and I saw it sitting there on the side of the road and I thought: ‘wow, it’s a wallaby’.

“I pulled over and it went and hid in the bushes, I waited there, and low and behold it came out and I was able to take a picture.”

He added: “I’ve know other people here have seen one around but I had never seen it before.”

East Anglian Daily Times: Whilst the Teachers were on strike many children were visiting the zoo.Whilst the Teachers were on strike many children were visiting the zoo. (Image: (c) copyright citizenside.com)

The sighting follows a report by amateur naturalist Peter Rowe who contacted the EADT after seeing the marsupial in a field near Foxearth in late July.

He said: “It was twilight, around 9.30pm, and I spotted something in the field the other side of the hedge, I thought it was a child at first.

“I stopped the car and it sat up on its hind legs, it was two to three feet tall. The way it sat up it couldn’t have been anything else than a wallaby, it was definitely that shape.”

Ten months previously, Julian Eley from Glemsford captured images of a wallaby on the roadside near the village.

Mr Eley had heard reports of wallabies in the area and had purposely set his iPhone up on his dashboard to capture any activity he might encounter.

He said: “It was my lucky night and I was chuffed when I saw it. I thought: ‘I’ve got to share this as it’s not going to happen again.’”

The Essex Wildlife Trust claim that the wallabies may have escaped from a travelling carnival held in June 2017.

According to the organisation the marsupials could have also absconded from a private collector.

A spokesman from the Essex Wildlife Trust: “If you do see the Wallaby please contact your local wildlife rescue organisation in order to reunite the lost individual with its owners.”