There was a dog walker ahead of us so we slowed down a little to give him and his spaniel room to get by. As the dog sped passed us it flushed a Snipe from the ditch that ran away from us down to the retting pond. We stood a while to see if it would come back as the dog dog ran off and its owner followed. In not but a minute the bird dropped back into the ditch having done a big circle around the village. There must have been some tasty morsels in the wet ditch worth coming back for.
Everything seemed to be staring at me on tours recently. Snipe, Bearded Tit and even this Beewolf got in on the action.
On our way to, and on our way from, the Solway last month, we called at some prime birding locations. Among the delights around us were a host of Snipe feeding in reedy shallows. Earlier we had a small flock of Pintail. these are duck that are hard to get close to in Norfolk. I particularly like the rear view shot of the drake as it swam away revealling an angle of the neck stripes not often seen in photos.
I do love Snipe. They are such unassuming little creatures; beautifully pattered. How on earth can people shoot them? Unfortunately being a quarry species they do, so no wonder they are so cryptically plumaged. This one however was a little more brazen; out in the open and not caring, but still alert.
In front of the hide were several masters of camouflage. Evading the quartering Marsh Harriers the Snipe melted into the short cut reeds in a way that only they can. Once in a while they popped out into the open.
Letter From Norfolk 