A farmland bird thought to be extinct in the Isle of Man has caused a flutter of excitement among local wildlife watchers - after two were spotted in Santon.

Sadly, the yellowhammers that appeared in a hedgerow off Oatlands Road are unlikely to signal a remarkable comeback for the species.

More likely they are visitors to the island that stopped off during passage across the Irish Sea.

But there is a remote possibility they could stay and breed - and so re-establish a Manx population.

Yellowhammers, a conspicuous canary yellow farmland bunting, were once a common sight in the Isle of Man. Their song is traditionally said to sound like ‘A little bit of bread and no cheese’.

But their numbers dropped drastically in the 1990s and from around 2010 they had become very rare in the island.

The last confirmed sighting was in 2016 since when they were considered to be locally extinct.

It caused quite a stir, then, when the two yellowhammers were reported at Oatlands Road during Manx BirdLife’s annual Christmas Bird Race.

However, David Bellamy, head of conservation and land at Manx Wildlife Trust, said he was confident that the species remains local extinct.

He said: ‘They are highly obvious when they sit and sing in the hedgerows.

‘In my former role as Agri-Environment Officer I conducted 550 farm visits and never once saw a yellowhammer, despite there being few fields and fewer farms that I haven't visited.

‘The two at Oatlands the other day stood out like sore thumbs.’

He said yellowhammers have been recorded in ones or twos on passage or dispersal at the Calf of Man Bird Observatory a few times since their local loss.

‘Sadly, I presume that the two birds seen recently are not of Manx origin and have recently appeared on the island,’ he said. ‘How long ago, and for how long they will remain is of course a mystery.

‘Fingers crossed they may stay and breed, he said.

But he added: ‘Sadly I would have little confidence in a population re-establishing from just a single pair, when the main drivers of species change among our farmland birds, including significant changes in arable area and arable land management, have not been addressed.’

Yellowhammers remain a common and widespread species across, particularly in southern and eastern parts of England and Scotland but recent population decline has placed them on the red list of conservation concern.

The sighting of the two birds have Oatlands Road brought the tally of species seen during Manx BirdLife’s latest Christmas Bird Race to a record 125.

This was the 14th year that the event has been held. Two species were seen for the first time during a Bird Race this year - the long-staying avocet at Derbyhaven and a ring-necked duck at Clypse reservoir.