A member of staff at a school has shared the story of her remarkable meeting with a large bird of prey during her midday meal.
Ellie Crane was having lunch with fellow workers from Upper Hill School in Portslade when an impressive raptor appeared behind their group.
The 22-year-old explained that one of her workmates was the first to notice the striking bird.
Colleagues gather at a particular spot outside the school premises during their lunch period, Ellie described. A teaching assistant then remarked with surprise, noting the creature was clearly not a standard seagull.
The entire group turned to look and spotted this sizeable, impressive bird ruffling its feathers.
The bird appeared to be either a buzzard or possibly a red-tailed hawk, though Ellie could not be certain. She and her fellow staff members were astonished to observe it perched calmly nearby.
The creature appeared extremely tame, Ellie observed. The group was sitting very close to it, yet it remained completely still.
A leg tag was visible on the bird, leading Ellie to suspect it had either escaped from someone’s private collection or strayed from a nearby animal sanctuary.
It almost certainly appeared to be an escapee, she concluded.
The encounter then took a characteristically local turn when the bird became unsettled by a flock of seagulls.
Seagulls caused it distress and it took flight, Ellie explained. Once it had gone, her lunch break finished and she returned to work inside.
It is not every day that a buzzard turns up during your lunch hour, she remarked.
Convinced the bird had escaped from somewhere, Ellie shared photographs of it on social media in the hope that whoever it belonged to might recognise it.
Among the responses, some commentators proposed the bird could be an uncommon hybrid called a Ferrutail, which is a cross between a red-tailed hawk and a ferruginous hawk. However, no one has contacted her so far to claim it.
Ellie expressed hope that the bird would find its way back to an appropriate place, whether that be a sanctuary, a wildlife facility, or a private home.
It is a magnificent creature, she stated.