Twitchers raise cash to give villagers tweet relief

Birdwatchers are raising money to "give something back" to the village where hundreds of them flocked following a rare sighting.

Enthusiasts have been travelling to Mundesley in Norfolk since a northern nutcracker was spotted in a garden on Friday.

Wayne Glossop, who travelled from Rotherham in South Yorkshire to see the bird on Sunday, said a villager suggested raising money for the Mundesley Volunteer Inshore Lifeboat - and the idea prompted him to set up a crowdfunding page.

The 37-year-old said: "It is about giving something back to the community after hundreds of people turned up."

The bird had not been seen in Norfolk since 1968 and had not been widely spotted in the UK since 1991.

A spotting by one person was recorded in Caithness in Scotland in 2021, according to Bird Guides. Another was spotted by a few quick-moving twitchers in Kent in 1998.

The sighting saw about 150 people visit the village on Sunday alone, which led to bus services being disrupted because of people parking poorly on the road.

Glossop said: "When these rare birds turn up we all dash to go see it... and all of a sudden it was absolute carnage."

He said the local resident who gave the idea of fundraising had been collecting donations in person from birdwatchers, with more than £530 raised so far.

Meanwhile, a JustGiving page was set up by Glossop, with more than £1,200 raised for the lifeboat charity.

"Birdwatchers and twitchers are not always given the best rep, so to turn up on a quiet estate can be daunting, so we are giving back to the community," Glossop added.

The BBC has approached the lifeboat charity for comment.

Glossop said seeing the bird was "a milestone" after using the binoculars of his late friend.

"I inherited his binoculars and that was the 400th bird seen through them," he added.

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