Rare Nutcracker Brings Birdwatchers and Bus Disruption to Norfolk
Bus services around the Norfolk village of Mundesley have been disrupted by birdwatchers who came to see a rare bird. Hundreds of enthusiasts arrived at the weekend after a northern nutcracker was spotted in a garden on Friday.
Sanders Coaches said the crowds led to "questionable" parking and that some services had to change. In a social media post, the firm said routes CH2, 34 and X55 "may be subject to very short notice alterations" because of people "double parking everywhere trying to photograph" the bird in the Mundesley and Trunch area.
The company added that fitting one of its bus trackers to the bird "would likely constitute a wildlife crime", so it could not say where the bird might be perched next. It asked visitors to park with care and to leave room for emergency vehicles.
A first in Norfolk since 1968
The bird had not been seen in Norfolk since 1968 and has not been widely spotted in the UK since 1991. A single sighting was recorded in Caithness in 2021, according to Bird Guides. Another was seen by a few quick-moving twitchers in Kent in 1998.
Chris Stone, 44, from Wymondham, was travelling north to see another bird at Flamborough when he got an alert about the nutcracker and drove back. The trip from Flamborough to Mundesley takes about five and a half hours, he said. Stone, who volunteers with the RSPB, said there were about 150 birdwatchers in the village on Sunday and "a bit of clogging up down the lanes", even though parking had been set aside at the local church.
He described the bird as about the size of a crow, with mostly chocolate brown feathers and white speckled spots and patches. It does not normally migrate, he said, and moves only when food runs short where it lives in Siberia.
Josh Jones of Bird Guides said the species had been seen across western Europe, and "it felt like only a matter of time before one showed up in Britain". Such movements, known as irruptions, are infrequent, he said. Jones was one of about 200 people looking for the bird on Sunday morning and called seeing it "an absolute thrill".
Norfolk Police said they had received several calls about parking on Trunch Road and Water Lane. Officers placed cones to help manage parking and will keep reviewing the situation through regular patrols. The force asked drivers to park safely and considerately, because the roads are relatively narrow.
Source: BBC News