A songbird described as a "national rarity" has been found dead after it was caught by a cat.

A woman said her "heart sank" after her cat brought the dead Siberian rubythroat - a species related to the European robin - into her home in Brampton, Cumbria, on Sunday.

Chris Hind, Cumbria's county recorder for birds, said there had only been 17 accepted records of Siberian rubythroat in Britain between 1975 and 2022 due to it being a "very secretive" bird, making this "an extraordinary scenario".

He said the bird, which would be sent off for scientific research, was "very underweight at 28g" and had likely flown from Siberia.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, said she had "heard the cat flap go" and her heart sank when her cat "brought her a bird and trotted off".

"I saw the bird's distinctive beautiful orange-red feather patch under its beak but I couldn't recognise the species," she said.

The woman said she had "popped it in her freezer amongst lollipops" while she researched what it was. She then contacted RSPB Geltsdale, who called the county recorder.

Hind's role involves helping manage about 250,000 recorded bird sightings in Cumbria every year.

He said the Siberian rubythroat was on a national designated list of very rare birds assessed by a panel on the British Birds Rarities Committee.

Hind said he had submitted the record, but he had "absolutely no doubt that it will be accepted because it is a very distinctive looking bird, with a bright red throat".

"It weighed 28g, which is very underweight because we understand the birds to weigh around 75g," he added.

He said the species was "notoriously hard for British birdwatchers to see", with it never having been spotted before in Cumbria.

The bird had likely had a "long journey from the vast wilderness of Siberia", he said, adding it was "absolutely tragic that the beautiful bird has fallen victim to a pet cat".

Jones said the Siberian rubythroat was a "largely brown bird but had a wonderful jewel-like crimson throat and it's also got these very striking white eyebrows and moustachial stripes, so it creates this very distinctive facial pattern".

He said: "At this time of year, Siberian rubythroats should be heading south from their Siberian breeding grounds to spend the winter in South-East Asia, highlighting just how far off course this bird in Cumbria was."

"After such a long journey from the vast wilderness of Siberia, it has perished in the most unfortunate of circumstances," Jones said, urging cat owners to fit warning bells to their collars.

"Such deaths are perfectly avoidable by taking the right steps."

Meanwhile, Hind said: "The interesting thing about this, is that the species are very secretive.

"They live their lives concealed among dense vegetation and so, if this cat hadn't brought it in, it's almost impossible that anyone would either have seen it or identified it."

He said once academics had taken any samples from the bird that they needed for their research, it would be sent to the Tullie museum in Carlisle.

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