One snipe, two snipe, three snipe, four...

As the title suggests today I was out with the bird survey volunteers at Doxey Marshes to complete a full snipe count of the reserve following poor conditions preventing the survey taking place on the WeBS day last week.

Strangest bird of the day was a grey heron, sadly deceased thanks to a broken tarsus which would have prevented it from being hunting.

After an extensive walk around the reserve, the morning ended with 299 snipe and a bonus 5 jack snipe.  Other birds of interest included 7 stonechat, at least 4 water rail, 4 cetti's warbler and 3 chiffchaff.  Several chiffchaff wintered on the reserve last year so it will be interesting to see if these birds hang around too, or if there are any more present of a different race.

Martin Garner has posted some interesting pictures and comments on chiffchaff on his Birding Frontiers blog.  Take a look here - http://birdingfrontiers.com/author/martingarner/