Jack Snipe Arrive

With the arrival of the freezing weather at the year end I was finally able to search for one of the most illusive of all winter visitors the Jack Snipe. It took five mornings before I made contact with one and in typical Jack Snipe fashion it flew off when I was only three feet away. Last winter with no prolonged frost or snow there were none in the marsh where they have appeared during the last forty five years, conditions have to be severe to bring them in from the surrounding fields.

On Hopwood there are very few Woodcock this winter with only one being seen on the 5th. The corvid roost continues to grow with more than five hundred being present most nights.
Along the motorway link road in the last couple of days both Buzzard and Kestrel have been seen to catch prey from convenient low down trees.

This weeks gallery is of Merlin that I filmed under licence in Bowland a couple of years ago. Can you spot the flat fly on the male? Click here