How's about jack
It appears as though there has been an arrival of jack snipe overnight with at least 4 birds seen this morning. Three birds were on the Top New Piece seen from the Zeiss Hide - look along the west shoreline of the body of water that extends from the Zeiss Hide towards the Kingfisher Hide. A fourth and slightly easier to see bird was from the Hogarth Hide, in full bobb. Check out the video here. To find this bird, check the shoreline along the duck marsh to the right of the hide.
South Lake Hides
A Curlew Sandpiper was amongst the wader flock, although it was briefly chased around the scrape by a pair of Jackdaw. Other waders included 5 Ruff, an Avocet, 131 Black-tailed Godwit, 16 Redshank and a few Lapwing. A Snipe was on the new islets in front of the Hogarth Hide, a Green Sandpiper was on the duck marsh but star of the show was a Jack Snipe along the duck marsh shoreline. At least 17 Pochard were on the deep lake.
.
Robbie Garnett Hide
Five Ruff and 4 Black-tailed Godwit were feeding along the shoreline amongst the Teal flock, most of which were roosting. Around 50 Wigeon were grazing along the shoreline.
.
Holden Tower
The Red-breasted Goose is still with the Barnacle Goose flock, grazing at the southern end of the Dumbles. Several groups of Curlew were flying inland from the estuary, presumably to feed in fields following the recent rainfall.
.
Zeiss Hide
Some management work taking place here today using the tractor to top the vegetation in preparation for the big arrival of wintering birds in the next few weeks. The disturbance is very minimal and many of the birds remain on the scrape despite the work. At least 4 Curlew Sandpiper were with the Dunlin flock which numbered around 150 birds. Also present were 2 Ruff and 4 Black-tailed Godwit. Another 3 Ruff were on the Bottom New Piece. There was no sign of any Little Stint, but more birds will continue to arrive as we approach high tide. At least 11 Snipe were also along the southern shoreline of the scrape with the Teal.
Another 3 Jack Snipe were along the shoreline of the nearer body of water. A Water Rail was feeding along the edge of the cut area in the reedbed.
