... and now I know how Joan of Arc felt ...

Big nose strikes again oh, Ok, it's big mouth, but it's been a long day ...

Big it up here!

I drove my car to work today, for the first time since about June, what a difference in time between SuperScooter / Car : Car 1hr 5 minutes / SuperScooter 20 minutes.
I drove the car as I wanted to go back to the nature reserve in Mazères and I didn't fancy leaving my gear in the SuperScooter as I scrabbled about in the undergrowth.

It was good - lots of wildfowl, a gaggle-a-thon of greylags making a racket like they only know how to.

I met a few 'regulars' who gave some good tips on where to take photos of different species, so I'll have to go back again anon.

These beautiful waders are really difficult to get a shot of, they are skittish and take off and leave as soon as they feel threatened, which is most of the time.
You know that people shoot and eat these birds ... :/

It was interesting to just sit in the hot sun and observe - not in a twitcher-type-way - the bird behaviour.
I saw shovellers take off then dive from a meter or so from the surface of the lake, head first - it looked so shambolic and comical.
I also noted that the pied wagtails were the Mitchell brothers / Sopranos of the lake - attacking and seeing-off ducks, egrets and snipe - this was surprising.
Additionally, I saw a grey heron do something that I have never seen them do before - that is, it swam, like a swan or a duck, across the lake, a good 400 meters or so - that was a first for me.

All-in-all a great day - I hope yours was a good one!

Snipe Hunt
Snipes are a kind of bird, difficult to spot
because they’re quiet and they hide a lot –
a kind of cross ‘twixt a pigeon and an owl,
it is a bird that deserves to be called fowl.
Maybe a large rooster with antlers like a moose
some guys say they look more like a wild goose.

How do you catch them? Now that is where you
depend on luck; my friend hit one with his shoe.
Some make a cage from an old cardboard box
but pillowcases work. To really outfox
a large snipe, you may need to bring a rope
to tie him up; If it's real dark, you just hope.

First, you start to hear sounds - like gobblety-gook
and you may start to think that you are a schnook
but hang in there. Sometimes it takes all night
especially if the snipe puts up a fight.
First time I went, along about one o’clock
I smelled what I thought was a rat in a crock.
Quick as a wink, I caught onto my first snipe.
What a night! but I got it all in one fell swipe.

Ruth Poteet