A ROYAL visitor has descended on Kirkleatham Owl Centre.

King Vulture, Priscilla, has finally come out of its warm winter house to take up residency in the centres large outdoor aviary.

The strikingly coloured South American bird, which has been hand-reared, is still a juvenile so her colourful plumage is not in full display yet.

Once she reaches maturity the hunt will be on to find a suitable mate but it wont be easy as Kirkleatham is one of only six places in the country to keep the species.

Craig Wesson, from the centre near Redcar, said: "There's just not many about-especially males so we may have to go on a global search to find her one.

"This won't be the first time staff from the Owl Centre has travelled the world to find one of its Vulture's a mate, last year we travelled all the way to the Czech Republic to find our Black Vulture, Barry, a mate."