Fiona the Flamingo at RSPB Minsmere. Picture: Jon Evans

SHE been been at large for more than a year – and an escaped flamingo is still delighting birdwatchers on the Suffolk coast.

To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email address below.

The message will include the name and email address you gave us when you signed up.

Email address

  Send link

To send a link to this page to a friend, you must be logged in.

The female bird, named Fiona, flew off from Marwell Wildlife, in Hampshire, just before Christmas 2010.

She’s been spotted in a number of locations since, including the RSPB reserve at Minsmere, across East Anglia and further afield, including a visit to Manchester Airport that forced a four-hour closure of the runway.

Giles Wood, an artist and writer who is staying with a friend in Aldeburgh, spotted the bird on the sea wall on Thursday.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” he said. “My first thought was ‘how on earth is it surviving?’

Ian Barthorpe, from RSPB Minsmere, said Fiona had been a regular visitor earlier in the year and had returned to the area about 10 days ago.

“She looks in good health – she is obviously feeding well and because she is fully winged she is able to move where she likes,” he said. “From our point of view, she has become quite a visitor attraction and one of many escaped waterbirds we’ve seen at Minsmere.

“It’s not unusual for escaped birds to survive for a long time.

“Unless she flies back to Marwell zoo, there is no chance to her being recaptured.” Marwell Wildlife said it was continuing to track Fiona’s progress but, unless she joined another colony of captive flamingoes, it was almost impossible to recapture her.