Flooded out with Snipe

With almost 24 hours of rain, especially heavy and prolonged over night it was not surprising that many areas of the valley are starting to flood, even brooks and road side ditches that I hardly ever see any water in were brimming over.

Dave and I planned a lazy breakfast over a game of scrabble till it ceased but alas that wasn’t to be so after a hard fought draw we decided not to out stay our welcome and moved on to Napton Reservoir.

With the deluge continuing water was pouring in to the reservoir at hell of a rate and many of the Snipe had taken to the adjacent boggy fields or were flying around in large numbers and we ended up with a minimum count of a 110 almost doubling the record set on Sunday. Also present were 30 Golden Plover over, male Pochard, Cormorant and Kingfisher while the entrance road was full of winter thrushes and finches.

Moved on to the Baseley smallholding where we were treated to 3 more Snipe, 3 Lesser Redpolls, 30 Yellowhammer and 20 Tree Sparrow.

Our last stop was the pond but with poor visibility, rain becoming heavier and squelching boots we gave up for the comfort of a hot toddy and a chance to dry out. Dave thought he had the Black-necked Grebe briefly but I saw nowt due to fogged up lenses.