This is the amusing moment a man was shocked to find a large heron wandering around inside a public toilet in Japan.

Tatsuma Bakuon had gone to the restroom when he heard a strange fluttering noise inside one of the stalls in the Amami Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture on December 10.

While checking out the cubicles, he found a white and yellow substance splattered on the floor which turned out to be bird droppings and opened the door of the toilet.

Footage shows the lost heron spreading its wings and trying to find its way out of the restroom. The man then guides it to the open door, allowing it to finally fly free.

The man said: 'I was just trying to use the toilet normally. It was the most heart-stopping moment of my life.'