The morning after the clocks went back turned out to be a brilliantly sunny one. Hundreds of especially well-rested visitors enjoyed the sights of Old Moor. Here’s what they saw…
On the Field Pool, it was probably a male kingfisher that got most attention. Throughout the morning he worked his way up and down the pools to the left of Field Pool West Hide - or the right of Field Pool East. By all accounts he was feeding very successfully there and often chose to perch on the fences or the shrubs that line the bank.
Kingfisher and catch today
On the Mere, and probably best seen from the left of the Wader Scrape hide, a goldeneye fed around Island Seven. I notice that one was seen from Wath Ings later in the day, though I’m not sure whether this was the same bird or second one.
Goldeneye in the sun
Those young, grey herons seemed to be everywhere today and especially around Wath Ings. They seemed to spend more time jockeying for position rather than actual fishing. Some did make a bit of an effort though.
Maybe try deeper water?
There were plenty of good birds out there, but for most watchers it was the sightings of jack snipe that got the pulses racing. I say ‘sightings’ because, as you’ve already spotted from the table above, there were definitely two and maybe even three jacks around today!
Normally difficult to find, October is a good month to see them. In winter the UK gets an influx of these small waders from Scandinavia and Russia. At first glance, a bit like a common snipe but the shorter bill; the small size; the two, long, golden stripes down each side; and the dark crown, all point to a very different bird.
Then there’s that famous ‘bouncing’ of course. Mind you, common snipe do bounce – just not as repeatedly and manically as a jack snipe!
So, I thought that to finish tonight’s blog, I’d share a photo of a jack snipe. Trouble was, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Twice. Still, raiding the blog archives, I found that Mike – aka Old Hilmian – posted this shot of a jack snipe at Old Moor in October. October 2011 that is!
Maybe I put the clock back too far?
Until next time.
Jack snipe. Thanks Mike.