A rare shot of a bird of prey taking what appears to be a quick dip in a lake has been captured by a wildlife photographer.

Steve Mason spotted the buzzard entering the water at the eastern end of Hornsea Mere, East Yorkshire, on Wednesday morning, and it was there for about a minute.

"I saw this buzzard and it just dropped in front of me and I thought, 'What on earth is it doing?' It's totally unusual behaviour," he said.

"It splashed about a bit, then emerged osprey-like out of the mere and continued its journey over Wassand Woods."

Mike Pilsworth, RSPB conservation officer for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: "It is unusual behaviour and something I've never seen a buzzard do before. I suspect it was just trying to cool off in the hot weather."

His colleague Pete Short, the RSPB's Humber reserves site manager, had an alternative theory – while a buzzard's prey is usually mammals and worms, he thought the bird on this occasion was trying to catch fish.

He said that due to oxygen depletion in the water during hot weather, fish can swim to the edges, and that might have attracted the bird.

"Buzzards don't always go in but they will go if there's food there," he explained, adding that "food is probably a bit short at the moment".

The RSPB said buzzards were the most common birds of prey in the UK.