A dog walker has spotted what she sees as a Madonna and Child in an artistic piece of driftwood at an Aberystwyth beach.

Clare Abney-Hastings was on her daily walk on Tan y Bwlch Beach when she spotted a piece of driftwood wedged to stand upright between the stones.

Spotting the Madonna and Child, carved naturally out of the wood lines and the ware of the sea, she described as a “special treat”.

The walker from Penyranchor wrote in the Cambrian News about the phenomenon, stating: “Someone has moved a piece of driftwood and it looks like the Madonna and Child which is rather wonderful especially as we approach Christmas.

“From another angle, it looks like a lamentation which isn’t quite as cheering.

“This is rather a special treat.”

With Halloween barely over, Christmas decorations are yet to be put up across the country, however apparitions of the Virgin Mary are more common than some may think.

Madonna and Child is a common religious scene depicting the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus Christ, originally painted by Duccio in the 13th century.

Since images of religious figures became more common, people have spotted Jesus Christ and Mary in grilled cheeses, on the moon, on the stump of a tree, and even on a flour tortilla.

The phenomenon is called face pareidolia, which is a visual phenomenon which causes people to see faces or patterns in ambiguous images and inanimate objects.

What images can you spot in the driftwood?