Twitching

At last, some good news on Breakfast TV this morning.

Last week, a fascinating visitor showed up unexpectedly in a small village in Norfolk. It was so rare, that people have flown from as far away as Australia, Scandinavia and Europe to see it.

Cley on Sea has a very rare sparrow in the garden of one if its residents. The "host" had the good sense to contact the local bird watching fraternity when it saw the little fellow peaking out of his hedge. It looks like a regular house sparrow, except it has a black and white striped crown. It is a variety from N. America, and there has been much speculation as to how it reached our shores. One possibility is that it got caught on a ship and had a free passage that way. I know this happens, as we had a similar stowaway once, sailing from Tanzania to India.

So, there are now rather a lot of Twitchers and wildlife photographers camping out on a B road next to the hedge. An enterprising soul in the village hung a bucket close to the sparrow's residence, requesting donations to the village church, which needs its roof repairing. Donations so far stand at £4000.

There is now a subplot being written as to how this little chap will find a mate this spring. Only sparrows with black and white caps may apply.