Solitary Sandpiper

I made the trip down to Rathangan in south Co. Wexford on 12/10/14 to look for the Solitary Sandpiper (an life tick) that had been found in the area five days earlier.  I spent the morning checking all the sites that it had been frequenting in previous days without any success.  I was beginning to suspect that I might have been a day late on the scene as it had not been seen by any of the birders in the area that day so I decided to take a break for a few hours and headed over to Tacumshin.  I was delighted to get a call from Graham Mitchell in the middle of the afternoon to say that he had found the bird at The Cull and that it had taken flight in the general direction of Rathangan.  That was the end of Tacumshin for me as I raced back to Rathangan.  As anticipated the bird returned to the marshy field west of Lambert's farm.

It was great to get the bird even if the lighting conditions were not the best by the time it showed up. Many thanks to Graham for the timely call, to the local landowners who were very helpful and accommodating and to Killian Mullarney for the excellent map that he produced showing all the favoured haunts and for arranging access to them.