Residents spotted a rare bird in their gardens due to the Beast from the East and hundreds of them spent the week at Rainham Marshes Nature Reserve.

Romford Recorder: Dave Tremlett photographed this fieldfare in his Rainham garden.Dave Tremlett photographed this fieldfare in his Rainham garden. (Image: Archant)

The fieldfare is a migrant bird that comes to the UK every winter to escape the extreme cold in Eastern Europe.

Wildlife photographer Peter Clayton took a picture one in his garden in Harold Wood while Recorder reader Dave Tremlett took a photo of one in his garden in Rainham

Howard Vaughan, visitor experience officer at Rainham Marshes Nature Reserve, told the Recorder that the bad weather that struck the UK last week pushed hundreds of the birds across the sea, and the snow meant that the birds flew into people’s gardens in search of food.

He said that from Monday, February 26 untill Friday, March 2 there were 200 of the birds in the nature reserve, but as the snow lifted they disappeared, and on Saturday morning only one was left.

The birds now face a tough job to find their way back home because they have been blown so far away from their natural habitats.