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As I have just had knee surgery and can't walk far I visited the "Grubby
Pool" at Banyule again today hoping to catch another glimpse of the Painted
Snipe.
Arrived around 2pm, aimed the binoculars to where I had last seen it
hunkered down in the reeds two weeks ago and it was in exactly the same place,
the only difference being that the rubbish marker had changed from a green
plastic bag to a hard piece of blue plastic.
I was quickly joined by Celia Browne, Denise Moore and later Jenny Flood.
We had what we thought were good views through Denise's scope (on 60 zoom) of
the bird while it snoozed in the reeds and occasionally opened a very large red
eye and slightly shifted position, but then just before 4pm - we'd decided to
give it till then - the sun came out and the Painted Snipe started to
move.
It came out from the Dock weeds and stood on the mud flat for a few moments
and then it started moving very quickly - one could even say it ran - along the
mud flats on the right of the pool. It stopped just short of the island and
gave us magnificent views of a Painted Snipe performing its toilette - preening,
raising up on straight legs and flapping raised wings, wading and bathing. It
started feeding and continually scissoring the water with its bill.
We watched while it "did a Tawny"and "went cryptic" when a Dusky Moorhen
approached too closely. The bird hunkered down in the water with its bill just
under and parallel to the surface of the water, to all intents and purposes it
was a chunk of wood, but we knew differently!
In the sun we saw strong chestnut on the back of head and nape of neck and
beautiful golden rufous spots/barring under the wing. Denise could provide a
more detailed description, but to me the bird appeared to be halfway between the
immature female and the mature female shown in the Moorcombe Field Guide.
Celia indicated that today provided her best views so far!
For those needing specific details of how to get there
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Park up on Banyule Road in one of the offcut parking
areas
Walk down the grassy hill to the "Grubby Pool" on extreme left
of the fenced off area
Go through the gate and follow the well worn track through the
grass to the log under the tree
Blue piece of hard plastic and bottle in the reeds should
be opposite you at the far end of the pool.
Good luck!
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