Cryptic Plumage.

Most commonly it is the female gender of most species that sports a plumage enabling them to be less noticeable as they are the ones that brood their youngsters. However there are some particular species where both partners, unless spotted out in the open,  are easily able to blend into their natural habitats and can be extremely difficult to locate unless you know exactly where or what to look for.

In my somewhat limited experience the ultimate camouflage expert is the Bittern but as I don't have any decent photos I thought I would share some of the Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) whose cryptic plumage, especially when it is sitting still with its long bill resting along its back, easily enables it to become part its surroundings.

As you can see from the first two images the upperparts are mottled brown with distinctive straw yellow stripes that match the colour surroundings in its usual breeding habitats of marshes, bogs, wet meadows, tundra and moorland. (I watched this individual from a hide at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Reserve at Barnes in early January. It was feeding below a grassy bank along the muddy water margin far to my right where there were no windows that opened and a fence obstructing my views so all the images are cropped.)

When it sat at the waters edge the ID was simple ... a disproportionately long straight bill with the distinctive central light coloured head stripe ( Jack Snipe has a much shorter bill,  an obvious dark central head stripe and a split supercilium) and the rather dumpy body shape clearly says this is a Common Snipe.
A small stocky wader native to northern Europe and Asia which most closely resembles the Wilson's Snipe (G. delicata) found in North America.

They forage for invertebrates by probing the soft mud or ground in a sewing machine motion.

The sensitiveness of the extreme tip of it bill means that it can distinguish whatever it encounters even though it cannot see its prey. This species faces severe problems when their habitat deteriorates or is not waterlogged at the end of the winter. If the ground becomes dry and hard then breeding will cease.

The underparts are pale with grey-brown spotting and stretching down its flanks. Old folk names include 'mire snipe', 'horse gawk' and 'heather bleater'. The Common Snipe is very shy and easily able to conceal itself but if flushed from cover it flies away in a series of erratic zigzags to confuse its predators. The obvious difficulties in hunting this species gave rise to the term 'sniper' which generally refers to a skilled military sharpshooter.    FAB.

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Barnes WWT.

On Wednesday I visited Barnes WWT around midday. The bright blue sky reflected in the colour of the water but out of the sun the cold northerly breeze quickly chilled the fingers. The buildings in the background are on the other side of the River Thames which forms part of the boundary to this urban wetland reserve acknowledged to be the best in Europe. So here are a few images of some of the species that were around.

 A Little Grebe continually pointed its behind towards the sun

 Only spotted a few Common Pochard but I guess more will appear as winter approaches.

 A female Tufted Duck taking a midday nap.   

 A male Northern Shoveller with its distinctive spatulate bill and puffed out white breast. 

 Time to tidy up those feathers.

 Mrs. Shoveller floats by totally unimpressed by the males.

Shortly after entering the Dulverton Hide I surveyed the distant reeds on the northern side of the main lake through the bins and eventually locked onto a brown shape ... one of the two Bitterns that arrived, probably from Norther Europe, about a week ago. Sorry, no photos as it was far too far away!  Other sightings included Mallard, Teal, Gadwall, Coot, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Canada Geese, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Common, Black-headed and Great Black-backed Gulls, Starling, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Cetti's Warbler (heard only), Great Crested Grebe, Lapwing, Jackdaw, Crow and Parakeet.

After some patient waiting a couple of Common Snipe appeared from the vegetation on a nearby island and spent a short time feeding before disappearing again, probably for their afternoon snooze. (Not the sharpest of shots as these guys were really too far away for the lens so original cropped.)

Finally from the first floor in the Peacock Hide I watched these Highland Cattle, which are being used to graze the grassland, slowly move to a fresh feeding location. Certainly no indication that they were feeling any effect from the biting wind!   FAB. 

Reed Buntings at Oare Marshes

Today I spent most of the day at Oare Marshes a KWT Reserve and logged a total of 54 species. My first encounter was a small group of House Sparrows and Reed Buntings feeding on fat-balls and seed on the edge of the car park. One individual kindly posed for me.

As it was low tide when I arrived I decided to take the path to Dan's Dock and was rewarded with more sightings of Reed Buntings everywhere plus dancing Skylarks, a few Linnets and Meadow Pipits. Most unexpectantly a Goldcrest also made a brief appearance. A male Marsh Harrier was being mobbed by Crows on the other side of The Swale. Sparrowhawk & Kestrel were also seen. On my return walk I snapped these three "Tufties".

Konik are an unusual breed of small horse, or pony, originally from Poland. This stocky and hardy breed shows many of the characteristics of the Tarpan, which was the original wild horse of Europe's Forests. Koniks have proved to be ideally adapted to year-round grazing on grassland and wetland habitats and they have been used by several conservation organisations to help manage nature reserves both in Britain and Europe.

These two were having a running battle but when I got close enough for a picture they stopped fighting - just my luck!

Very few waders flew into the East Flood as the tide rose apart from good numbers of Common Redshank plus one Ruff (new tick for 2009) and I spotted at least 12 Common Snipe but none of them were particularly obliging nor was the light! So only managed a 'rear' view.And once again, nearly the last bird seen was another Reed Bunting...I lost count but it was definitely their day.