HUNDREDS of excited bird watchers have swamped a North-East golf course after a rare East Asian bird was discovered in woodland there.

The eastern crowned warbler is more at home in the jungles of Cambodia or Indonesia - but is thought to have gone so off-course during its autumn migration that it ended up near Saltburn, East Cleveland.

The green-plumed bird's dramatic arrival teed off one of the biggest gatherings of birdwatchers in years as they headed from all points of the compass to Hunley Hotel and Golf Club at Brotton.

How the bird went so widely off course on its autumn migration remains a mystery but for those who made the journey to see it flicking through the leaves of a small copse it was better than getting an eagle, albatross or even a hole-in-one.

One of Britain’s leading bird experts Martin Garner confirmed the warbler’s identification after speaking to its delighted finder Ian Kendal, an old friend from polytechnic days.

“Ian was certain it was an eastern crowned warbler but wanted to talk through the bird’s identification features before the news of its arrival was released,” said Mr Garner.

“I do not go twitching to see rare birds these days but as soon as I had spoken to Ian I immediately called a few people and told them, ‘fire up the Quattro, there’s an eastern crowned warbler’. It was a new bird for me.”

A few hours later Mr Garner from Flamborough, East Yorkshire, had joined the ranks of thousands of delighted birdwatchers who had seen the warbler’s distinctive plumage features which include olive green wing feathers and creamy-striped head markings.

News of the warbler’s arrival was released nationwide by the Rare Bird Alert and the Birdguides information service who scored it with three red exclamation marks to denote its “mega” rarity status.

Yesterday, the third day of its stay, it was still attracting the crowds.

The Cleveland sighting is only the third occasion the eastern crowned warbler has been seen in Britain, but "twitchers" have been waiting years for a decent view since the first one made a fleeting visit to South Shields and Durham in 2009.

Bert Mitchell, 67, a retired civil servant from Guisborough, said: “It’s a fantastic social event. There must be around 300 people here and I bet that there are others frantically attempting to travel here now.”

Staff at the hotel golf club, which was hosting a wedding reception, praised twitchers for their consideration and said there had been no disruption.