Twitchers are flocking to Cornwall desperate to catch a glimpse of a bird rarely seen outside the southern hemisphere. Toby Phelps, 20, spotted a black-browed albatross and managed to get a picture of it while on a sea watching expedition.
He was stationed at the Lizard Point and, although he only saw it flying for a few minutes, experts were able to confirm the sighting.
They have now described it as a "red letter day" and said it was even more intriguing as it is believed it may be the same bird which visited Britain last year.
Toby, from Falmouth, who is studying zoology at university, said: "I was sat right on the edge of Lizard Point, by the cafe. We went down looking for birds, not specifically the albatross, we were sea watching and it just so happened to fly past.
"I was shaking quite a lot with all the adrenaline and excitement, it was quite a mad experience. It's incredibly rare, I'm not sure how many sightings there have been in the UK.
"They breed in the southern hemisphere, in the Falklands. It's incredibly unusual to see them here.
"When you see rare things like that having a photo really helps.
"I'm a keen bird watcher. I study zoology so I'm interested in nature and stuff and very keen on birds in particular."
Paul Stancliffe, media manager for the British Trust for Ornithology, said: "Any sighting of an albatross in British waters is a red letter day but this sighting is made all the more interesting by the fact that it could be the same bird that has spent the last few summers loitering in the North Sea.
"If so, we could be in for more sightings of this enigmatic bird as it prepares to spend another summer in the northern hemisphere."
Tony Whitehead, speaking for RSPB in the South West, said "This is a lovely sighting of a black-browed albatross.
"Albatrosses rarely stray north of the equator, but every so often one or two do end up in the North Atlantic, where they tend to remain for years.
"Famously a bird turned up at Bass Rock in the late '60s, and stayed around the Scottish coast for the following four decades.
"More recently there has been a long staying bird on Heligoland in Germany."
The sighting follows huge excitement and big crowds streaming down to Land's End in October to see a rare catbird from America which had only been seen in the UK once before.
Cool! Life on the wing.