Hundreds of birdwatchers have flocked to Kent from as far as Yorkshire to catch sight of “an extremely rare visitor to Britain".

Huge crowds of twitchers armed with cameras have descended on New Hythe, near Maidstone, in recent days after the rare American yellow warbler was spotted by local Glenn Honey.

The 56-year-old said he was left “shaking” with excitement after seeing the eye-catching bird in the Leybourne Lakes area at about 11.20am on Christmas Eve.

Only on a handful of occasions has the species - which is native to North America and the Caribbean - been sighted in the UK, although it is not listed as endangered in the wild.

On spotting the bird, Mr Honey said: “I've been birdwatching for about 12 years and had an inkling it was an American warbler. It was bright yellow and small like the size of a robin.

"It made me very excited and I was shaking - it was just different to anything I'd seen before.

"After I sent some pictures to a Kent bird WhatsApp group the area then became bombarded with people after that.

"We all think it came from North America and was assisted by the wind caused by some of the storms we've had in recent weeks."

The bird, believed to be an infant male, is understood to have last been seen in the area on Friday, despite huge crowds gathering there yesterday.

One birdwatcher is understood to have driven the 240 miles from Yorkshire in the hope of catching a glimpse of the warbler, which is described by The British Trust for Ornithology as "an extremely rare visitor to Britain and Ireland".

Another twitcher told how he waited three hours to see the warbler.

Writing on his blog, Saturday Cat Bird, he added: "After the long wait, a birder called out.

"The yellow warbler eventually flew up into its favoured alder trees and put on a top-class performance for the masses.

"At last I had caught up with this little stunner."

The last reported sighting of a yellow warbler in the UK is understood to have been on the Isle of Portland in Dorset in 2017.