IT was a power cut that affected 18,000 homes and left Christmas shoppers out in the cold.

But as engineers battled to restore power to Winchester's homes and businesses the cause of the fault was not so clear cut.

After working for an hour to reconnect the power, engineers found the cause of the problem - a pheasant!

A spokeswoman for Southern and Scottish Electricity Network confirmed the feathery cause of the problem.

"It would appear a pheasant flew into a High Voltage cable, causing the power cut," she said.

As previously reported Winchester was without any power on Saturday after the lights went off just before 3pm before all 18,000 properties had power restored by 4pm.

Christmas shoppers have been gathering on the High Street as shops were unable to trade.

According to a spokeswoman for Scottish and Southern network, the power outage initially affected just over 18,000 homes across the city.

Traffic lights were also out across the city while shops are closed and sports fixtures disrupted.

A spokeswoman said: "At 2.57pm SSEN was notified of a power cut affecting 18,178 customers in the Winchester area. Engineers were dispatched immediately and are now on site."

She also apologised to customers for any inconvenience caused and thanked them for their patience.