How about this for a Christmas present for our reserve - our volunteers carried out a snipe count in the marsh today and to their great delight they counted 40 common snipe and 4 Jack snipe. Add this to a further 20 common snip seen on the island and our reserve currently hosts a healthy colony of these fascinating birds.
These numbers far exceeded the expectations they had for the numbers of birds hiding amongst the reeds. So despite grave misgivings of a month or so ago, snipe numbers are above what we hoped they'd be.
Thanks to all the volunteers who carried out the count today in rather wet underfoot conditions.
See you on the reserves,
Best regards,
Chris Edwards