SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER at Titchwell RSPB!

SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER

Titchwell RSPB
1st for the reserve, 7th for Norfolk

Phonescoped this evening at 6.52pm distantly from Island Hide at Titchwell RSPB. The light was beautiful, after an earlier thunderstorm. Sat in the hide with Eddie M. Also seen: 3 Spoonbills, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Whimbrel flew over west, 3 Common Terns, loads of Avocets, Black-tailed Godwits, Ruff, Redshank, Dunlin, Med Gull, Black-headed Gulls, Shelducks, Little Egret, Teal, Pied Wagtails, Starlings, Marsh Harriers.

I missed last year's Semipalmated Sandpiper at Snettisham RSPB as I was caring for my mother in her final days, before her death on 7th August. When I finished work yesterday I was so tired, I didn't bother going to Titchwell when the Semipalmated Sandpiper was first found, as I truly believed I had seen one before! This is what happens when you don't keep a list and you have a bad memory! It wasn't until today that I remembered that the Semipalmated Sandpiper that I had seen at Cley was then re-indentified as a Western Sandpiper, so I hadn't actually seen one!!! So a new Norfolk tick for me today! I really must get round to doing a list!

Earlier in the day I visited Foxley Woods NWT and saw several Silver-washed Fritillaries, Peacocks, Commas, Ringlets, Painted Ladies, Emperor Dragonfly and bumped into Chris Stone who had been to see the Pacific Golden Plover at Breydon Water this morning. No sign of any Purple Emperor butterflies. It was boiling hot here and I left sooner than I should have done, but wanted to get to Titchwell. I diverted for a short while to Bintree Mill – a place I love, but couldn't even get out of the car, as a massive thunderstorm then broke!