Leicester Mercury

Managed to spot rare bird – and catch boat

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SATURDAY, October 17 turned out to be memorable for me as, having seen more than 500 species of bird in Britain, a potential addition to the list, a rufous bush robin, turned up at Stiffkey, Norfolk.

This was not to be missed, although it had appeared at rather an inconvenie­nt time as the following day I was intent on travelling down to Penzance to board the Scillionia­n for the Isles of Scilly, early Monday morning (incidental­ly for my 30th consecutiv­e October on these islands).

Informatio­n regarding the bird came by way of a text message on my phone provided by Rare Bird Alert, a service for which I pay about £70 annually.

It means I receive immediate informatio­n regarding the appearance of very rare birds.

Sadly, for me, so many of the species I wish to encounter often appear in rather too distant locations, such as Shetland, The Orkneys, The Western isles or Fair Isle.

Believe it or not, there are very keen, almost fanatical birders, who drop everything, round up the posse and travel to these distant locations, even if it means chartering planes and boats: yes, really.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I did get very good views of the bird; social distancing being the order of the day for the multitudes, fortified by a police presence.

This was well reported on the BBC national news as well as other outlets. Also, all went to plan with respect to the visit to the Scilly Isles.

David Abbott, Stoke Golding

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