A wallaby pitch invader unexpectedly appeared in the middle of a polo match over the weekend.

The marsupial was seen to bound across the ground during Sunday’s Triskelion Punch Bowl, held at the club in Ballaugh.

Photographer Patricia Tutt explained that by the time people had spotted it, the animal was already halfway across the field, before quickly disappearing into the bushes and trees on the opposite side.

She said it was the first time she had seen a wallaby in that environment.

Wallabies have run wild around the north of the island ever since a pair of them escaped from the wildlife park during the 1970s.