They’re more associated with riding the backs of big game animals in Africa or foraging in the paddy fields of Asia.

But this cattle egret was spotted this week catching a lift off cows in a field off Honna Road, Rushen.

Previously very much a bird of the tropics, this species of bright white heron has seen a rapid expansion in recent decades and has now colonised much of Europe, the Americas and as far north as Canada. It is thought this is linked to climate change.

Twenty years ago they were rare visitors to the British Isles but have now become an increasingly common sight particularly in southern England. They remain a rare breeding bird but are more regular winter visitors.

In the Isle of Man, sightings so far have been few and far between - one was seen in Cranstal in 2023 and another individual frequented a farm in Port St Mary for a week in 2009.

Cattle egrets forage close to livestock such as cows and sheep and grab the insects and worms disturbed by their hooves, or ride their backs to pick at bugs.

The latest sighting comes just weeks after a farmland bird thought to be extinct in the Isle of Man was pictured in Santon.

The two yellowhammers appeared in a hedgerow off Oatlands Road earlier in January.

The island visitors likely stopped off during their 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.

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.