Soon after moving to Somerset almost 20 years ago, I rode my bike down a bumpy drove, along which our ancestors took their livestock to graze on the damp, boggy fields of Tealham Moor. I remember seeing several whinchats, a late summer migrant whose presence suggested this was a special place.
Now it is even better, thanks to the appearance of a flooded area with muddy edges – perfect for waders as they head south.
My wife, Suzanne, and I visited recently, enjoying excellent views of three ruffs feeding in the shallows. Ruffs do not breed here, but they do pass through on the long journey from their Arctic breeding grounds to their African winter-quarters.
It took us a while to notice four common snipe (gallinago gallinago) hidden in the rushes at the water’s edge, each probing the mud for food with that eye-catchingly long bill.
The snipe does not travel as far as the ruff, but these birds may have flown across the North Sea to overwinter here on the Somerset Levels. When flushed, they fly with a characteristically rapid, zigzag movement, making them extremely tricky to shoot – hence the term “sniper”. Sadly, in Britain it is still legal to shoot snipe – and their relative the woodcock – despite a recent decline in numbers.
As we left, a whinchat flew on to the top of a bramble bush, a timely reminder of my first visit here all those years ago.
