Aldburgh - Alpine accentor

Not an easy bird to catch up with - the alpine accentor exclusively favours montane habitats such as the Alps and Pyrenees moving to lower levels in winter, but with a run of exceptionally mild southerly winds that continue to blow through the country, it appears that anything is possible at the moment.

Noting that the bird had roosted overnight, an early start was the way forward with one observer having identified its continued presence on the Martello Tower shortly before dawn using a thermal imaging camera.

The site was easy to find, as was the bird but the over-exuberant and aroused congregation of twitchers were keen to afford themselves close range views constantly moving together in unison ever closer to the poor bird - not behaviour I'm particularly enamoured with but sadly it goes with the territory. 

Hanging back in anticipation that the bird would fly my way, a strategy that paid off with great views of this scarce European vagrant. 

A wander round the nearby North Warren RSPB reserve yielded a great egret, a single northern wheatear, one siskin, one redpoll, four bullfinch and around 140 barnacle goose.