Former scaffolder David Cappleman who lives in the tiny village saw a black throated thrush in a neighbour's garden and then again in his own.

He has turned his life around with the help of a camera after being made redundant and has now become the talk of the twitcher world.

Twitcher is the name given to bird enthusiasts who travel miles to see unusual species and Mr Cappleman is now in their top rank after photographing the black-throated thrush, or Turdus Atrogularis to give it its Latin name.

This particular species of thrush is large with a plain grey back and reddish underwings. Only adult males have the black bibs while females and young males lack them but have black streaked underparts.

Mr Cappleman owes his bird-spotting feat to a camera given to him as a combined birthday and Christmas present by his wife Bev.

He said: "When I was made redundant I was sitting at home pulling my hair out with boredom so my wife suggested I should get out with my camera to give me something to do.

"I started last spring when 58 Southern Hawker dragonflies emerged from our wildlife pond. I got close up pictures of them and they were very beautiful.

"I also photographed everything from damsel flies to butterflies in the garden and as a fallback there were always flowers

"Then I joined the photographic website Flickr which is photo sharing so you put your pictures up and you get comments about them from other photographers and it's all civilised and very friendly.

"Now I've started taking landscapes and shots of Whitby. I'm getting better with them and I've got some quite spectacular ones."

David moved on to taking birds and it was then that he got the shots of the black-throated thrush, at first in the neighbour's garden and now in his own.

He said: "We have four cats who are voracious hunters so we'd stopped feeding birds.

"But my wife put some slices of apple out and the thrushes have now come into our garden so I've got some more excellent shots of them.

"When I posted the pictures on the website things went crazy with people from all over the country viewing them.

"They've been discussed by the Irish Birding Society on the website because there's never been one spotted in Ireland.

"Now we're expecting Newholm to be full of bird spotters but I understand that anyone looking at them should keep at least 700 yards away from them.

"At one time you would never have got me out of the house in this weather but now I put on about 20 layers of clothing and take my camera and away I go.

"I've also got a job as a carer at Hawksgarth Lodge in Hawsker and I love it. I feel as if I'm contributing to the community and it's very fulfilling.

"My life has changed so much for the better since I was made redundant."