Lymnocryptes minimus – GIACH FACH – Winter visitor and passage migrant. Not recorded from May to July
Updates to the Wetland Bird Survey counts for this season.
Annie Haycock (BBS & WeBS local organiser)
Jack Snipe – WeBS 2021-22
Category: Jack Snipe
Jack Snipe – first and last dates
Lymnocryptes minimus – GIACH FACH – Winter visitor and passage migrant. Not recorded from May to July
Previous records summarised in Jack Snipe 1994
| Year | Last sighting | First sighting | Notes |
| 2000 | 18 March | 13 October | |
| 2001 | 14 April | 20 September | (1) |
| 2002 | 17 April | 12 October | |
| 2003 | 7 April | 2 October | |
| 2004 | 10 April | 2 October | |
| 2005 | 13 March | 7 October | |
| 2006 | 4 March | 14 October | |
| 2007 | 10 February | 17 September | |
| 2008 | 17 March | 22 October | |
| 2009 | 17 March | 18 October | |
| 2010 | 24 April | 26 September | |
| 2011 | 4 February | 14 October | |
| 2012 | 31 January | 8 October | |
| 2013 | 7 April | 6 October | (2) |
| 2014 | 24 March | 14 September | |
| 2015 | 1 May | 5 October | |
| 2016 | 21 March | 8 October | |
| 2017 | 1 April | 12 October | |
| 2018 | 13 April | 27 October | (3) |
| 2019 | 26 March | 2 October | |
| 2020 | 8 March | 19 September |
Notes
(1) 2001 – 12 on Skomer 9 March – a record count
(2) 2013 – A cold weather influx was then evident in the period from 1 March to 7 April, with a single bird noted at Skokholm on 12th, 15th & 17th, at Coedcanlas on 16th March and site maxima of four birds at Castlemartin Corse on 1 March and at Teifi Marshes on 6 April.
(3) 2018 – Reported from at least 14 1km square locations
Records extracted from the Pembrokeshire Bird Reports, which may contain more detail than shown here.
Jack Snipe – 1994
Lymnocryptes minimus – GIACH FACH – Winter visitor and passage migrant. Not recorded from May to July
The Jack Snipe was regarded by Mathew (1894) as a “fairly numerous winter visitor”, with occasional flocks of a dozen or more being encountered. Lockley et al. (1949) also considered it “fairly numerous” and added that cold spells brought “great numbers” to Pembrokeshire.
The shooting and ornithological fraternities were much more closely related in those days, which thus ensured a comprehensive coverage of potential Jack Snipe habitat. Birdwatchers today do not habitually tramp across much of the suitable terrain, so the modern record is not so comprehensive. Currently Jack Snipes arrive from 4 September and depart by 26 April, normally one or two being seen at a time in widespread localities, including Skokholm, Skomer, Teifi Marshes and many parts of the Cleddau Estuary, with up to nine having been flushed at the Gann.
Since the second World War there has been a considerable reduction in the kind of habitat favoured by Jack Snipes, so the species is probably less numerous in Pembrokeshire than in the past; certainly there have been no large influxes noted during recent cold spells.
There are two August records from Skokholm, on 18 August 1938 and 20 August 1937.
Jack Snipe – 1980s winter
Lymnocryptes minimus – GIACH FACH – Winter visitor and passage migrant. Not recorded from May to July
The BTO winter atlas showed that Jack Snipes were present in a third of Pembrokeshire 10km squares during the winters of 1981-82, 1982-82 and 1983-84.
The darker the colour, the higher the relative total count for each 10km square. The darkest blue represents over 4 birds recorded per day.
Probably under-recorded as usually not discovered until almost trodden on.
Graham Rees. Pembrokeshire County Bird Recorder 1981-2007
Data collected by volunteers for the BTO. Lack, P. 1986 Atlas of wintering birds in Britain and Ireland. T & A.D. Poyser.
Jack Snipe – 1949
Lymnocryptes minimus
Fairly numerous winter visitor, including the islands.
Jack Snipe – 1894
Limnocryptes gattinula – A winter visitor.
This diminutive Snipe is fairly numerous, appearing about the middle of September at its accustomed places on the moors, and on all boggy places where there is sufficient cover for it to hide in. We have heard sportsmen state that in seasons when Jack Snipe are plentiful, the Common Snipe is scarce, and vice versa, but we have not found this borne out in our experience. The abundance of either species, at certain localities, depends entirely on the weather. In severe frosts, the birds naturally congregate about warm springs, or other damp places that remaining unfrozen afford them food.
The Jack Snipe is usually solitary; but may be occasionally met with in little flocks of upwards of a dozen, on some favourite ground, just after their arrival in the autumn, or immediately before their departure for the north in the spring.
Jack Snipe
Lymnocryptes minimus – GIACH FACH – Winter visitor and passage migrant. Not recorded from May to July
Jack Snipe – WeBS 2021-22
The latest figures from the Wetland Bird Survey in Pembrokeshire – totals from all count sites
Jack Snipe – first and last dates
First and last dates of sightings of this winter visitor since 2000, extracted from the Pembrokeshire Bird Reports
Jack Snipe – 1994
Lymnocryptes minimus – GIACH FACH – Winter visitor and passage migrant. Not recorded from May to July The Jack Snipe was regarded by Mathew (1894) as a “fairly numerous winter visitor”, with occasional flocks of a dozen or more being encountered. Lockley et al. (1949) also considered it “fairly numerous” and added that cold spells brought “great […]
Jack Snipe – 1980s winter
Lymnocryptes minimus – GIACH FACH – Winter visitor and passage migrant. Not recorded from May to July The BTO winter atlas showed that Jack Snipes were present in a third of Pembrokeshire 10km squares during the winters of 1981-82, 1982-82 and 1983-84. The darker the colour, the higher the relative total count for each 10km square. The […]
Jack Snipe – 1949
Species account from the Birds of Pembrokeshire, 1949, by Lockley, Ingram and Salmon.
Jack Snipe – 1894
Species account from the 1894 ‘Birds of Pembrokeshire and its Islands’ by Rev M A Mathew
Pembrokeshire Avifauna 