Durham Bird Club at 50
The county avifauna, The Birds of Durham (Bowey and Newsome, 2012) records that “A public meeting in late 1974 at Sunderland Museum and Art Gallery to discuss bird watching and recording was well-attended. This was followed on 8 January 1975 by another meeting and enrolment for membership of the Durham Bird Club began shortly afterwards.”
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We shall be organising various projects and events during the year to commemorate this special anniversary. These include a "Bird of the Week" feature, appearing below.
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Bird of the Week - Week 41
Snipe – The Master of the Marsh
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​​(Photo by Mark Harper)​​​
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There’s something remarkable about the way a Snipe seems able to vanish into its surroundings. Secretive and superbly camouflaged, they seem to vanish into the reeds or rushes until, with a sudden whirr of wings, one bursts from cover, zig-zagging away before you’ve quite had time to focus.
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Snipe are resident in good numbers in County Durham throughout the year, though their visibility changes with the seasons. As autumn deepens, local breeders are joined by migrants from further north, swelling numbers on lowland wetlands and damp pastures. By now, they can be found across many of the County’s key sites, from Castle Lake, Rainton Meadows and Hetton Bogs to the Teesmouth marshes and inland floodplains when conditions allow.
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Their distinctive “drumming” display, that eerie, quivering sound made by air rushing over their outspread tail feathers, is a spring phenomenon, long fallen silent by this point in the year. Now, they’re quiet and wary, feeding mainly at dusk or dawn, probing soft mud for worms and larvae with extraordinary precision.
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With their streaked plumage blending perfectly with rushes and sedges, it’s easy to overlook just how striking a bird a Snipe really is, those rich browns and golds, that long, delicate bill, and the subtle patterns that make them almost invisible in their chosen habitat.
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After this year’s dry summer, many of the smaller, seasonal pools and scrapes have been slow to recover, making the wetter, permanent lowland sites especially valuable. If you’re out birding this week, take a quiet moment at the edge of a marsh or wet field where you might just be rewarded with the sudden burst of a Snipe breaking from cover.
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Have you noticed numbers building locally, or perhaps seen birds returning to regular wintering sites? We’d love to hear what you’ve found.
More information on Snipe
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E-mail: admin@durhambirdclub.org.uk
Social media tags: #DBC #DBCat50 #DurhamBirdClub #BirdOfTheWeek
#Durham #Birding #BirdwatchingUK #CountyDurhamBirds #BirdMigration
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