Alpine Accentor - From Scilly to Suffolk

 Apline Accentor (Cliff Smith) Photographed before the crowds arrived

Welcome to Slaughden

Pictures above (viewing from correct place, below viewing from private land)

Purple Sandpiper

Messy, Messy, Messy

As my plane landed at Land's End from the Isles of Scilly, I switched airplane mode off on my phone to get a stream of messages saying there was an Alpine Accentor in Suffolk. Without being harsh, it was a fancy Dunnock that clearly got pushed to Britain by the strong southerly winds. I thought I'd check in with Squire on my drive home and he revealed it would be going the next morning. I did have the day free so I agreed I'd go with with him once there was news confirming it was still there. The route was pretty simple but the last 35 minutes seemed very slow due to small lanes, as we edged closer to the coast.

The Alpine Accentor breeds in the south Mediterranean as far as Greece and can be found in mountain ranges. This was the 40th record in Britain and the first for 25 years.

A birder we passed on the walk along the sea wall warned us that the bird was being chased. That was a small warning of what had happened. The bird had been pushed away from the tower so much so, it had flown onto some private land owned by the National Trust. It was clearly marked NO PUBLIC ACCESS, so we got the best views we could from the fenced area. We both observed the bird a number of times distantly, as it moved to feed on the path, but we had to settle for scope views.

Suddenly photographers and then birders broke rank and went into the private land to walk behind bird, from one or two, the group built quickly to probably sixty. We wanted to stick to our principles, everyone wants a great view but sometimes it just doesn't work out. We just didn't want any part of this organised flush, the crowd got closer & closer flushing the bird even further away.

At that point we were done, we headed back towards the car where he had some nice views of Brent Geese & a Purple Sandpiper on the groynes. This was by far the worst twitch I'd ever been on. I felt embarrassed individuals that share the same interest would be so selfish. As it turned out the bird returned to the Tower to roost but flew off early the next morning. An Accentor was found on Blakeney Point a day later so perhaps the same bird.