A RARE bird has made a temporary stop-off at a North-East nature reserve.

The squacco heron has been seen at RSPB Saltholme, near Seaton Carew on Teesside.

More normally associated with the Mediterranean or Middle East it is an occasional visitor to these shores.

Its odd name supposedly comes from the noise it makes and it feeds on frogs, fish and insects.

The photos and video accompanying this story were taken by a wildlife enthusiast from North Yorkshire known as Phil_Birder. 

"The squacco heron is quite a rarity and definitely not native to the UK. Another lonely traveller that got lost on it's migration," he said.

"I've never seen one before so when I saw the alert at BirdGuides.com, which I pay a subscription to for up to the minute rarity alerts, I jumped in the car and headed up north."

Phil arrived at the reserve around 5pm on Thursday. 

"The reserve was open later than usual to cater for all the anxious birders and twitchers wanting to catch a rare glimpse of the bird," he said. "Well played by the RSPB staff who volunteered to stay behind.

"With never having seen one before I was hoping I was about to add it to my life list and add it to my website.

"The RSPB staff led us to the hide nearest to the squacco heron. The hide was almost full to bursting with onlookers.

"After about 15 minutes I managed to get a viewing seat. The squacco heron tends to skulk amongst the reeds hunting for fish so was quite difficult to see but every now and then it popped up and flew to a new spot.
"Every time it popped up the camera shutters started to fire.

"Fortunately I managed to get several decent shots and a video of the heron catching its supper. All in all a very nice sighting and well worth the trip."

  • For more photos and details of Phil's other sightings visit http://phil-birder.me