Rare bird found washed up in St Leonards is flown 5,000 miles home to Caribbean

The red-footed booby bird, now nicknamed Norman, is normally a resident of sunnier climes across the Caribbean but was rescued after he was found bedraggled on a pebble beach by passer-by Gail Cohen on September 4.

He was very underweight and dehydrated when he was rescued by East Sussex Wildlife Rescue Ambulance Service, who transferred him to RSPCA Mallydams Wood wildlife centre, in East Sussex, where he has been intensive care ever since.

Spending his days under a special heat lamp to keep him warm in the drizzly and cold British weather, Norman has been nursed back to health on a diet of sprats - a type of small fish.

Now the RSPCA has joined forces with British Airways and IAG Cargo to make sure the young bird, the first recorded red-footed booby in the UK, makes his way back to a flock of fellow boobies almost 5,000 miles away in the Cayman Islands.

Wildlife rehabilitation team manager at the centre Richard Thompson said: “It is just fantastic to see Norman make his way home after the team here have worked so hard nursing him back to health and full strength.

“We are used to dealing with native seabirds here - like gulls and terns - but he is the first booby bird we have ever seen here at the RSPCA and the UK. It is amazing to think we’ve had a hand in his care.”