First flamingo egg hatches in Washington Wetland Centre in four years

The young bird has been feeding beak-to-beak with its parents

A Chilean flamingo egg has hatched producing a conservation reserve's first chick in more than four years.

The egg was laid at WWT Washington Wetland Centre on 31 July.

Staff at the centre heard a "croaking" inside the egg on Tuesday - the first bonding young flamingos have with their parents.

Senior keeper Rhys McKie said some of their younger, hand-reared flamingos had shown an interest and "even had a go at incubating the eggs".

"To have the first egg in over four years hatch successfully is very exciting," he said.

"It's also been really promising to have many of our six-year-old hand-reared flamingos interested in the process, curiously investigating the nests and inspecting the eggs.

"It's really encouraging behaviour to see."

The egg is the first to hatch at the centre for four years

The birds have laid 24 eggs but the centre only rears enough chicks to keep its flock at "optimum head count".

The rest have been given to Bird Gardens Scotland which is building a flock of flamingos in the Scottish Borders.

In 2014, the centre's flamingos laid eggs for the first time in eight years.

Flamingos nest in large groups and live in even larger colonies of between 10,000 and one million birds.

Flamingos can live to more than 60 years old and still breed