A RED kite has been spotted and photographed in the South Hams.

Tim Burr saw the kite on March 31 circling over Pinhays in South Milton, near Kingsbridge, for about 10 minutes. He said that a member of a local bird watching group had also spotted the unusual visitor and confirmed the sighting.

Naturalist Gordon Waterhouse explained that the RSPB has been working hard to reintroduce red kites to Britain after they were nearly wiped out at the beginning of the 19th century.

'At one stage there were just two pairs left in Wales,' he said. 'The last nesting pair were seen in Devon in 1947. But in the 50s and 60s the population grew and the RSPB introduced birds from abroad. We do get them in the South Hams. They are not common, but every year we see a few, and one day we hope to find them nesting here again.'