Early this morning, standing in a wet field, craning my neck upwards I finally managed to pinpoint the source of a rather odd wavering hum. It was a "drumming" snipe - a wading bird performing its display flight (vibrating tail feathers produce the drumming sound), proclaiming this corner of the marsh as it own to other snipe, especially available females. A chipping call drew my attention to another snipe sitting on a gatepost, and I marked down the drummer and chipper on my map. Alasdair and I were carrying out the first visit of this years breeding bird survey at Buckenham Marshes and by the end of the morning we had mapped 9 snipe territories - one more than last year. Snipe have declined more than any other wading bird on lowland wet grasslands, so this is really good news. As well as snipe, we found plenty of lapwings, redshanks and avocets, and stacks of ducks, geese and swans. This has to be the best moment in a warden's year, measuring the success of all the hard work getting the habitats into good shape. If you know Buckenham Marshes, its well worth a visit now as the breeding waterbirds are really busy at the moment. If you have never been to Buckenham, imagine a square mile of grass, reeds and water, a very big sky and lots of birds, and just a few minutes down the road from Strumpshaw Fen. Definitely a place to lift the spirits.