ONE of Britain's rarest birds, which landed exhausted and emaciated on Skye at Christmas after an absence of almost 140 years, has been released back into the wild.

The bittern, the first on the island since one was shot at Skeabost in May 1867, was nursed back to health by a vet in Portree and recovered well after being fed fish and mice.

Although bitterns bred in the Highlands until the mid-nineteenth century, this is only the seventh which has been recorded since then.

It was decided to release the bird at Loch of Strathbeg in Aberdeenshire because the reserve has an extensive area of reedbeds with a plentiful supply of fish and frogs, providing an ideal habitat for the species.

Strathbeg has held wintering bitterns for the past six years and they are thought to arrive each autumn from northern Europe, the most likely origin of the bird found on Skye.