What is the type of rare bird that arrived to Cley in 2012?
The SSSI is designated as a Special Protection Area for birds for its variety of coastal habitats. The large breeding colonies of Sandwich terns and little terns, especially those at Blakeney Point and Scolt Head Island, are of "European importance" as defined in the Birds Directive, and the coast as a whole meets Natural England's criteria for nationally important populations of common terns, pied avocets and reedbed specialists like western marsh harriers, Eurasian bitterns and bearded reedlings. Other birds nesting in the wetlands include the northern lapwing, common redshank, and sedge, reed and Cetti's warblers. Ringed plovers and Eurasian oystercatchers lay their eggs on bare sand in the dunes. Little egrets, Eurasian spoonbills, ruffs and black-tailed godwits are present for much of the year, and the egret and spoonbill have both started nesting within the SSSI.In spring and early summer, migrant birds including the little gull, black tern, Temminck's stint and garganey may pass through on their way to breed elsewhere. In the autumn, birds arrive from the north; some, such as whimbrels, curlew sandpipers and little stints, just pausing for a few days to refuel before continuing south, others staying for the winter. Offshore, great and Arctic skuas, northern gannets and black-legged kittiwakes may pass close by in favourable winds. Large numbers of ducks winter along the coast, including many Eurasian wigeons, Eurasian teals, mallards and gadwalls, goldeneyes and northern pintails. Red-throated divers are usually on the sea, and brent geese feed on sea lettuce and other green algae. Barn owls and sometimes hen harriers quarter the marshes in winter, and snow bunting flocks can be found on the beaches. Thousands of geese, mainly pink-footed, roost at Holkham.The SSSI's north-facing east coast location can be favourable for huge numbers of migrating birds when the weather conditions are right. These may include vagrant rarities. A black-winged stilt, which acquired the nickname "Sammy", arrived at Titchwell in 1993 and became a permanent resident up to its disappearance in 2005. Other major rarities included a western sandpiper at Cley in 2012, a rufous-tailed robin at Warham Greens in 2011, and a black-winged pratincole at Titchwell in 2009.
western sandpiper