A big shock!

7/8/06 Welney WWT Leaders: Simeon and James
We returned to Welney to try and refind the Spotted Crake that Connor and I had found two days earlier. At the main observatory we got two Yellow Wagtails, a Kestrel and a single Common Sandpiper. Things seemed a bit quiet so we moved on to the Buxton Hide. There was a strange wader that turned out to be a young Ruff. Other birds were five Yellow Wagtails, three Green Sandpiper, two Little Ringed Plover, 10+ Sand Martins, a Kestrel, a Bewick's Swan and some Whoopers, a few Wigeon and twenty - five Common Snipe. Whilst counting the Snipe, I noticed a larger bird! After doing lots of research I thought it could be a Great Snipe! The key features were; the bill was shorter than the Common Snipes, the underparts were more heavily barred with next to no white, the underside of the wings were dark with no white at all, the bird had white coverts, it was noticeably larger and it had a lot of white on the tail. I don't know whether to count it or not. All of the features pointed towards Great Snipe, but the only problem is, it's a bit early! It had been a really good day though!