Rare Bird Sighting Starts Ornithologists Twitching In Thanet

There was excitement amongst the bird loving community this week when a rare bird was spotted in Thanet. The Einkaufswagen as it is known, is normally only found during the winter in Germany and Austria.

Bill Oddie, a keen birdwatcher who captured the creature on camera, said: “For the last few months I have spent my days by the Western Undercliff in Ramsgate looking for Tits. Usually you only see Tits during the summer but with not much else going on at the moment, I held out hope that I’d see a pair of Great Tits during the colder months.

“One day I heard rustling in the trees, I turned around and there it was. I couldn’t believe it at first, I thought to myself how did an Einkaufswagen get there. They’re not small birds so it must have been a great effort to land in that tree but all the same, what a delight to behold its distinct steel like plumage glistening in the sun. It makes up for the lack of Tits.”

Holzig Specht from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said: “You don’t often see the Einkaufswagen in the UK anymore although there have been a number of sightings in Thanet over the years. Their preferred habitats are in urban areas such as supermarkets, the bottom of canals and quite often, student accommodation.

“Unfortunately they are being seen less and less in the UK as their preferred food source, the pound coin, is becoming scarce and they are known to suffer from defective feet meaning they often go in the opposite direction they intend to. All in all though, great news for the people of Thanet.“

Coming up next, trolley chucked over cliff spends years in Thanet tree; TDC oblivious.