Jack Frost

It is easy to see why, looking at this weeks blog photo, the Jack Snipe is the most illusive Winter v visitor to the Pennines. Without frost and snow they are almost impossible to find but last weeks conditions were in my favour with snow followed by a min temp. of minus seven.I knew that any Jack Snipe present would be feeding along the edge of my local stream but would they fly off when our eyes met through the frost?
In a normal winter, on average, only one Snipe freezes and allows me to film it from as close as ten feet. What happened last week is almost impossible to believe when six Jack Snipe all froze where they were and allowed me to photograph them on a 400 yard stretch of the stream. In their eyes they were happy that they had not been found and I walked away having experienced an event that would be difficult ever to beat in the Pennines in Winter!