Ortolan bunting: Rare bird spotted at raptor viewpoint in Yorkshire forest

The male Ortolan bunting in summer is a plump colourful bird with a greenish-grey head, yellow moustache and orange breast,

However, the Wykeham bird is a female and has more streaky brown plumage but still retains some of the buff orange breast.

Ortolan buntings are summer visitors to Europe with their range expanding as far east as Mongolia.

They are an annual vagrant to this country, mainly in autumn as some are blown off course as they migrate south to Africa.

Ortolan buntings are a close relative of the yellowhammer and, along with the corn bunting, share a liking for traditionally managed farmland with plenty of field margins in which they can nest and hedgerows from which they can sing.

Yellowhammers and corn buntings have both suffered huge losses in this country due to modern farming methods and in Europe the same is true of the Ortolan bunting with a population crash of of 88 per cent over 40 years.

It comes under further pressure in France where the Ortolan bunting is regarded as a much prized gourmet's delicacy.

Large numbers continue to be illegally trapped each autumn on migration.

Then they are fed with corn to fatten them up before being stuffed with pate de foie gras, marinated in Armagnac and then roasted.

President Mitterand chose to have some for his last meal before he died in 1996.

In 1979 the European Union outlawed Ortolan hunting and in 2007 France announced it was introducing its own tougher legislation.

However, illegal hunting and trapping this bird still takes place mainly in southwest France but also in Cyprus and Malta,

It is estimated that, of around 300,000 Ortolan buntings passing through France each autumn, ten per cent continue to be illegally taken with chefs and gourmets protesting against the ban and arguing that the Ortolan is still a common bird.

Other sightings across the region include a Collared pratincole, a rare vagrant from southern Europe, present for a few hours at the St Aidans's reserve.

A marsh warbler was singing near South Landing, Flamborough, and Great reed warbler on the bank of the River Calder near Castleford,

An adult Pacific golden plover was on Greatham Creek, Cleveland.