ALPINE
ACCENTOR
Oulton Broad c1823*
by Andrew Easton
The
Reverend Richard Lubbock was staying with a friend near the
verge of Oulton Broad in 1823*, presumably one of the large
houses on the northern shore, though the precise locality is
not made clear.
During breakfast they noticed an unfamiliar small bird running
nimbly around on the lawn outside. He describes it thus:
" It
had somewhat the carriage of the wagtail, was very active, and
came several times within six or seven yards of the windows."
As neither
of them were able to put a name to it they called for the hosts
gun, only to find that the servant had just taken it to [Great]
Yarmouth to be repaired. As the bird was rather small and plain
coloured they decided not to make any extra effort to obtain it.
Some weeks later whilst they were looking through a private collection
of bird skins belonging to a Mr Lombe of Melton they instantly
recognised the bird labelled Alpine Warbler (sic) Accentor
alpinus, as the bird they had watched near Oulton Broad .
He comments: "had we been sufficiently aware of its value, a walk
of 300 yards would have obtained the loan of a gun." **
* The actual
text of the original 1848 edition and of the new edition of 1879
gives the year as 1824; the 1879 edition has added footnotes containing
entries from Rev. Lubbock's personal papers, and it is this footnote
that gives the year as 1823, but no month is mentioned in either
place!
(Observations on the Fauna of Norfolk, and more particularly the
district of the Broads, by the late Rev Richard Lubbock, Jarrold
& Sons, Norwich, 1879).
** At the
time he knew of only one previous record, one of a pair that had
been shot in the gardens of King's College, Cambridge on 22nd
November 1822. There was actually one record previous to that,
one killed in a garden at Forest House, Epping Forest, Essex in
August 1817.
(Rare Birds in Britain 1800-1990, Lee G R Evans 1994).
