A man was left shell-shocked when he discovered a perfectly round chicken egg - and has now put the rare item up for sale on eBay.

Justin Clarke, of The Lawns, Royston, found the spherical egg in a box he brought from Bury Lane Farm shop in Melbourn last week, and has now put it up for sale on the internet auction site.

The 37-year-old local government officer said: “It was quite a surprise, I’ve never seen a round egg before. I posted it on Facebook and Twitter, and got quite a few comments. One of my friends said I should try selling it on eBay, because it’s the kind of thing people collect.

“As it’s so rare it seemed a shame to just eat it.”

Mr Clarke’s eBay listing invites bids of 99p or more, and describes the egg as “very rare” and “one in a billion.” However, at the time of writing, bidding has yet to get cracking, with the egg failing to ruffle any feathers in cyber space so far. The auction runs until Tuesday, January 14.