Rare brown booby found thousands of miles from home on Britain's south coast

  • Video report by ITV Meridian's Charlotte Wilkins

A rare bird, native to the tropics, has been rescued from Britain's south coast.

The brown booby was found by member of the public in Hove, drastically underweight and a long way from home.

Staff at the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS) near Lewes are making sure it's getting plenty of food and warmth.

The species is normally found in the tropics, from California, the Gulf of Mexico, to the west coast of Africa and sometimes up into the Mediterranean, and across the Red Sea to Indonesia and northern Australian coasts.

Trevor Weeks, the founder of WRAS, said: "We've had reports that birds like Boobies have found themselves on containers for days at a time, resting, quite often after stormy weather.

"He may have found himself on a container that's come up this way then flown off in the wrong direction and got himself lost."

The bird was found to be under weight at 760 grams. Their natural body weight is around 1-1.8kg Credit: WRAS

Though he's been at the hospital less than a week, he's already showing signs of improving, however his recovery is not over yet.

Trevor added: "We know if we release him here the chance of survival is virtually zero, so we’re going to have to fly him back to a natural area. It’s not going to be a cheap process but we’re certainly going to do all we can to get him back in to the wild."