An extremely rare albino badger has been spotted in an Oxfordshire garden.

The completely white badger was spotted in Sandford on Thames near Littlemore at 11pm and stayed for around five minutes before scuttling off into the woodland.

Carol Barrett and her husband, who are both retired and have lived in the property for 30 years, are no strangers to animal guests as foxes, pheasants, muntjac and roe deer regularly visit their garden.

However, this was the first time they had spotted a badger and the fact it was an albino made the moment all the more unique.

Mrs Barrett said: “We knew they existed because we watch Countryfile but we had never even seen a badger before because they are quite elusive.

“We were really pleased to see that one, it was amazing.”

True albino badgers are extremely rare – due to a genetic quirk - and completely lack any pigmentation, making them look like miniature polar bears.

They should not to be confused with erythristic badgers which are paler than a normal badger as they lack black pigmentation and instead have reddish-brown fur.

As the Barrett family dog is also white Mrs Barrett joked her children said ‘are you sure you just haven’t let the dog out?’.

Mrs Barrett said the family will follow wildlife advice and will not encourage the badger to return by leaving food out for it.

Although, she does hope the badger will return for another visit of its own will.

She added: “It has turfed up all the grass to get the grubs, but it’s a small price to pay to see it!”

Julia Lofthouse, mammal project manager at Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust, said: “It unusual but not unheard of to spot badgers with colouring like this. The badger doesn’t have any visible facial markings, so it’s likely to be an albino, with white fur and pink eyes.

“Alternatively, it could be erythristic, which means the animal has no black markings, but reddish fur instead. Erythristic badgers are more common than true albinos, but it’s tricky to tell the two apart in the dark, as erythristic badgers appear almost white in LED light.

“It is amazing to see these icons of the British countryside on our doorstep and it’s heart-breaking that these incredible wild creatures are now being targeted by Government culling on our patch to try to halt the spread of TB in cattle.”

Since 2014, Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust, has been running a successful badger vaccination programme.

There are currently estimated to be around 485,000 badgers in England and Wales.