The rare rose-coloured starling, which was spotted in Winterton last weekend. Blown off course and thousands of miles from home, a feathered visitor to Norfolk's shores fell foul of an unlikely predator - camera-wielding bird-watchers.

Miles off its migrant flight path to India, a rare rose-coloured starling was spotted in Winterton last weekend.

The sighting sent birdwatchers - some known as twitchers - into a flap.

About 30 twitchers armed with long lens cameras pursued the bird from garden to garden, watching every peck and chirp.

An eager cat added to the starling's torments - and this week's miserable weather and flooding made matters even worse.

By Wednesday, the bird had died and was buried in RSPB member Carole Barnes' garden - with the 66-year-old nurse yesterday accusing the twitchers of chasing the starling to death.

"I don't know how they all got here so quickly but by Saturday the private court we live in was being overrun with these bird watchers," she said.

"They hounded him for two days solid. I told them to leave him alone but they said 'tough'.

"The bird went from garden to garden, it was tired and desperate to eat, but they wouldn't leave him alone.

The bird's journey. "They weren't interested in its welfare, all they cared about was getting their picture. The poor thing was scared and exhausted and by Sunday evening it couldn't even fly any more." But problems for the bird - which features a pink body, legs and bill, and glossy black head, wings and tail - were only just beginning.

"As soon as it became clear the bird couldn't fly any more my next door neighbour's cat saw its chance and pounced," said Mrs Barnes.

"I felt certain that would be it but some of the twitchers just managed to scare the cat away before too much damage was done.

"Then the next day there was a torrential downpour here, and on Tuesday the bird died in my back garden.

"It was the twitchers who were the main reason he died, and they're supposed to be bird lovers.

"All the people living here were shocked. I've never seen such thoughtless behaviour. The worst thing that poor bird could ever have done was land at Winterton."

RSPB spokesman Chris Durdin said that members of the society abide by a code of conduct protecting birds.

He sympathised with Mrs Barnes' distress and that the bird watchers' attitude to residents had been "counter productive".

But he said it was unlikely that the twitchers would have hounded the bird to death - especially as those he had spoken to reported that the bird was suffering from ticks. He added: "Rose coloured starlings are regular migrants in small numbers and are not rare enough to attract birders from around the country.

"If it is the case that the bird was disturbed then that is a pity, there is a code of conduct to avoid harassing tired migrants.

"Sometimes people get carried away; there are more bird watchers than ever, but fewer examples of bad behaviour."

Rose-coloured, or rosy, starlings breed in the open farmland of central Asia, often spending the winter in India.

While adult birds are eye-catchingly pink, juveniles - like the one in Winterton - have a much paler plumage and short yellow beak.


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