Sightings of a rare Lesser Snow Goose on Glastonbury Tor have triggered a rush of “twitchers” (bird spotters) to the bird-spotting hide at St. Michael’s Tower this week.
The twitchers generally get on reasonably well with other users of the tor, although some visitors take a while to get used to the total silence rule that the twitchers try to impose.
Yesterday though the twitchers came head-to-head with Defra’s Squirrel Resuscitation Team (the “SRT”) that is permanently on standby at the tor because of the recent hand-cooked crisp warning.
Details are hazy, but reports indicate that a squirrel crept into the twitcher’s hide, found and ate a discarded hand-cooked sea salt and cracked black pepper crisp, which promptly lodged in its windpipe.
A scuffle ensued when a member of the SRT attempted to resuscitate the squirrel and was set upon by enraged twitchers, whose attempts to maintain silence had fallen on deaf ears.
Fortunately the police were on hand within minutes and peace was restored, but now a member of the resuscitation team is stationed at the entry gate checking the picnics that visitors bring onto the tor, and placing a security seal on any packs of hand cooked crisps that are brought in.
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