A very rare white Atlantic Puffin has been spotted along with its common black cousins off the Isles of Scilly. The white puffin was once considered to be a mythical bird, but the latests photograph confirms that this is not the case.
This puffin's strange colouring is caused by something called leucism, where the colour pigments are formed, but are diluted. This differs from the more commonly known albinism where the strong black pigment is not formed at all. Other leucistic birds have been spotted in the UK before and it seems that seeing a white, or partially white, blackbird can be most confusing for a bird spotter.
So, just when you thought you'd got the hang of what your common garden birds look like bear in mind that nature can still fool us.
