Twitchers accused of bird's death

A complaint that a group of twitchers "hounded" a rare starling to death will not be investigated, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has said.

It comes after one of its members, Carole Barnes, 66, reported the "thoughtless" behaviour of about 30 bird watchers in Winterton, Norfolk.

A RSPB spokesman said the incident involving a young rose-coloured starling was "isolated and unproven".

It is believed the bird, which usually winters in India, was blown off course.

Several are spotted in Britain each year.

Mrs Barnes told the BBC's Today programme the birdwatchers had pursued the starling from garden to garden after it turned up in the coastal town last weekend.

"They were just running along our paths, chasing the bird from wherever it went, ceaselessly. They never stopped for two days," she said.

"On Sunday evening it landed on my fence and unfortunately the next door's cat nearly got it. Monday we had torrential rain here. And we found him Tuesday morning in my garden and we buried him."

There is a bird watchers' code of conduct and we would always ask people to follow that and be good ambassadors for bird watching RSPB spokesman

The RSPB said its officials were not aware of any widespread problems regarding the behaviour of twitchers - people who travel long-distances at short notice to photograph rare species - or bird watchers.

He said: "We have spoken to Mrs Barnes and she is clearly unhappy and I do sympathise.

"But we weren't there and we can't say for sure what happened. We have had reports that the bird had ticks which may suggest that it was unwell. It may also have been tired because of the bad weather.

"But we do not plan to launch an inquiry. We are not aware of any widespread problems with twitchers. We would regard this as an isolated local incident.

"There is a bird watchers' code of conduct and we would always ask people to follow that and be good ambassadors for bird watching."

The spokesman added: "Sometimes people can get carried away. But there are more birdwatchers than ever, yet fewer examples of bad behaviour."