Shenstone Birder: Thursday 7th November 2013

Today I returned to Catherton Common on the lower slopes of the Clee Hills in Shropshire. I decided to start today's visit by walking around the boggy pools at the NE side of the common but before I had even walked a few paces toward the pools 5 Common Snipe flew up.

When flushed, Common Snipe behave in a totally different way to Jack Snipe (see 24th October post). Common Snipe will fly up as soon as the see you (which can be some distance away, they fly in quite a zigzag fashion and tend to fly off as opposed to dropping back down a short(ish) distance away. They also tend to make quite a harsh scrapping 'chack' call as they take off.

As I continued my walk around the Common I checked out a number of the pools but to no avail, not a single Jack Snipe on this visit. That said I did note 4 Stonechat (2♂, 2♀), 3 Raven, 1 Common Buzzard and a Kestrel.

Other wildlife highlights encountered at Catherton included 2 Brown Hares that were cavorting around and a single Peacock butterfly that was making the most of the Autumn sunshine.

View from Catherton Common towards Titterstone Clee Hill

Snipe Pools - Catherton Common

Common Snipe (from the archives)

7 comments:

Bob Bushell25 November 2013 at 05:50
Brilliant Snipe photos Jason.
Phil25 November 2013 at 08:13
Hi Jason
Was in Shropshire for the first time last week, we stayed in a cottage near Ludlow at Brampton Brian. Lovely part of the country!
Warren Baker25 November 2013 at 09:11
Like that header photo Jase :-)
Alan Pavey25 November 2013 at 13:14
Some great Snipe pictures, I've yet to get close enough to any to get any kind of shot :-)
Mike T26 November 2013 at 02:58
Good blog Jase and more Snipe ID pointers! Love Catherton and the rest of the Shropshire Hills, they are special.Read in the press a while back that there is a proposal to build wind turbines on Brown Clee, I do hope not.
Anonymous30 November 2013 at 04:55
Great set of pics, Jase.

On a different but mutual subject....Dirt Box were awesome as usual, last week...UK Subs were on top form (as always) last night. And Blackpool just gets better....with Penetration being added to the line-up :-)
Jason K7 December 2013 at 04:57
Bob - Cheers

Phil - Its a lovely part of the world and Ludlow is only just over 20 miles from here

Warren - Cheers mate...I felt I needed a change

Alan - Thanks. They can be tricky at times

Mike - Thanks, I'm glad you found it interesting. That's worrying news about Brown Clee mind

Deano - Cheers Mate. Dirt Box are playing Kiddy again early Jan...cant wait! We've had some good gigs here lately with highlights being Culture Shock and Inner Terrestrials. Incidentally Culture Shock are playing Rebellion too!