A "vicious" pelican has left people terrified after savagely pecking a man in a London park.

The large water bird was filmed striking the unknown man as he relaxed on a bench in St James's Park, on Friday 16th July.

It was recorded by artist and DJ Richard DeDomenici, 43, who was walking through the park with a pal at the time.

Richard shared the funny clip on Facebook, writing: "Human punished for not giving pelican attention it deserves."

The video shows the large pelican strolling towards a bench in the park where a man is sitting.

Richard and his friend can be heard explaining that the magnificent bird is "a little bit intimidating."

The pelican then jumps up onto the bench as the man sitting there casually watches on.

It appears to be attracted to Richard as it moves closer to him while he explains: "I think it's my hairdo."

The animal continues to roam around on the bench before turning its attention to the man sitting there - giving him a big nudge with its beak.

Thankfully, the man doesn't appear to have been hurt by the attack and happily laughs it off but swiftly moves from his seat.

"Did you see that?" Richard and his pal ask as they hold back their laughter.

The pelican eventually decides to jump off the bench and back into the water after having its fun.

More than 900 people liked the video, with dozens of viewers commenting on the bizarre interaction.

One person said: "Imagine just trying to chill and a full-on dinosaur tries to eat you."

Another person commented: "I don’t know how I feel about this prehistoric giant thing."

"Poor guy in the background refuses to believe this sh*t is happening. If he had just given it some fusseys all would have been well," another Facebook user said.

Another declared the pelican "such an elegant beast" although others shared some horror stories.

One person declared: "Offski pronto.., wouldn’t fancy my chances either," and another wrote: "Oh my God they are massive!"

"My sister was attacked by one at Dublin Zoo, sliced her cheek open with its beak," one person wrote.

"I've seen one of the St James's pelicans eat a live pigeon. Quite disturbing," another said.

"I was sitting on a park bench with my old school friend Perdita when suddenly I noticed a pelican strutting towards us," Richard told Jam Press.

"I began recording as the pelican approached the benches and clambered on beside me.

"I thought perhaps it had mistaken me for a large bird, as my current hairstyle does make me look a bit like a cockatoo."

Richard believes the pelican may have pecked the unknown man sitting on the bench because he failed to give it enough attention.

He added: "I thought the person was not giving the pelican the attention it deserved, and was probably, therefore, being punished by the bird."