Another of the snipe nests that we've been monitoring on the reserve has now hatched out, two chicks were taking their first steps in the sunshine on Saturday and hopefully the other two eggs have hatched out since (video and photos of one of the chicks taken by Lorna Potter).
On top of this we also found two fledged snipe on Friday. Although snipe had been confirmed breeding and chicks had been seen on the moor before, we had never had evidence of the chicks surviving to the point where they can fly. This was great news and another high point in what has been a very successful breeding season.
We found the fledged chicks whilst carrying out some 'rope dragging'. This is the favoured method for finding snipe nests and unsurprisingly involves dragging a rope over the areas of the field where you think snipe are nesting. Snipe don’t fly off their nests unless you get very close and so using a long length of rope greatly increases the area you can cover. It seems quite an intrusive technique, but the nests aren’t directly touched by the rope (as it drags over the top of the vegetation) and the adult snipe returns to the nest within about 20 minutes. The photos below (taken by Charlotte Kinnear) show us rope dragging and also show one of the fledged chicks just before it flew off. With Otmoor being the only site in central England supporting breeding snipe, it's great to see them doing so well. We certainly seem to be living up to the RSPB's new strapline; Giving Nature A Home.