A rare visitor to Britain has been drawing crowds at Dungeness.

The crested lark arrived earlier this week but was not identified until Wednesday. While they are not unusual on the continent and breed copiously near Calais, they do not like flying over water and are non-migratory.

There have been hundreds of photographers and twitchers lining up to see the bird, which has only visited Britain three times in 20 years. The last time it was seen at Dungeness was in the car park of the Britannia pub in 1974 so anyone hoping to see such a lark in the UK may not have long to get a sight.

Owen Leyshon, of the Romney Marsh Countryside Project, has been arriving at dawn - about 4.30am - every day to deal with crowd control and shoo the bird away from people’s gardens. He reckons there will be many thousands arriving over the bank holiday weekend.

He said: "It's very hectic down here; this rare bird has been causing some headaches.

"You would have to be an older twitcher to have seen one and there will be a surge of people on Saturday morning and the Bank Holiday. I reckon there will be 1,000 to 1,500 people coming down.

"The guy who found it was Dave Bunney. He saw it on Monday when he cycled out of his house, saw a lark he didn’t recognise and called me and the bird reserve. We identified it on Wednesday.

"The concern I have is for the breeding birds because of the sheer number of people, and the privacy of residents."

Should you wish to spot it, the crested lark looks very similar to a skylark, but with a more orangey underside, rounded wings and and a shorter tail. The sex of the bird has yet to be established and it has not been indulging in any songflight, preferring to skulk around in the underbrush.

Dungeness is a fine place to spot rare birds as its position - stuck out in the Channel - and its micro-climate make it ideal for birds dropping in.

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