A rare species of crane, which has only been sighted four times in the British Isles, was sighted in Kessingland.

The adult Sandhill Crane that has been migrating south along the east coast from Aberdeenshire in the last few days was seen flying south from Kessingland around 10.40 on Sunday, a spokesman for Lowestoft bird club told the Eastern Daily Press.

The Sandhill Crane, with its distinctive red forehead, is usually a native of North America, but this bird has been left stranded on the wrong side of the Atlantic by the the recent Hurrican Katia. Instead of migrating to Florida with the rest of the flock, it has flown south, leading to the first sighting of this species in Britain since 1981.

RSPB experts told the EDP that the bird could stay in the UK or spend its life migrating along the eastern side of the Atlantic, but that it was unlikely to return to America.

Kessingland’s birdwatchers are celebrating the sighting of this “magnificent” bird, and hoping that it can be spotted again when it flies north next year.