An escaped rhea looks set to make its home at a golf course it has been roaming for more than two months.

The 6ft, flightless bird arrived at Evesham Golf Club, in Worcestershire, in October and staff have so far been unable to catch it.

Golf club workers said it has become “a star” since its arrival and is “more than welcome to stay”.

The club said it was a pet which escaped from the village of Harvington.

Due to its speed the bird was nicknamed Linford, after sprinter Linford Christie.

A temporary course set up while work is being carried at the site has also been named after the rhea.

It is the harsh and unpredictable seaside conditions that has traditionally made links golf such an enticing endeavour.

But for England’s oldest course, at least, they are proving too much of a challenge.

The Royal North Devon Golf Club has accused the Government of “abandoning us to the ocean” after Storm Eleanor prompted the collapse of part of its eighth tee and high tides expected next week threaten the demise of the seventh.

Designed by the famous Victorian golfer “Old” Tom Morris, the course at the mouth of the Taw-Torridge Estuary is renown as the “St Andrew’s of the South” and one of the UK’s toughest.

The historic lay-out now faces permanent disfigurement, however, due to the brutal coastal erosion.

More than 50 yards of the championship course has been lost as a result of the “preventable” collapse, with boulders strewn across one of the fairways.