Category: Jack Snipe

Jack Snipe – first and last dates

Annie H

Lymnocryptes minimus – GIACH FACH – Winter visitor and passage migrant. Not recorded from May to July

Previous records summarised in Jack Snipe 1994

YearLast sightingFirst sightingNotes
200018 March13 October 
200114 April20 September(1)
200217 April12 October 
20037 April2 October 
200410 April2 October 
200513 March7 October 
20064 March14 October 
200710 February17 September 
200817 March22 October 
200917 March18 October 
201024 April26 September 
20114 February14 October 
201231 January8 October 
20137 April6 October(2)
201424 March14 September 
20151 May5 October 
201621 March8 October 
20171 April12 October 
201813 April27 October(3)
201926 March2 October 
20208 March19 September 
202116 April11 October

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

More about the Jack Snipe in Pembrokeshire

Jack Snipe – 1994

Annie

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.

Donovan J.W. & Rees G.H, 1994, Birds of Pembrokeshire

More about the Jack Snipe in Pembrokeshire

Jack Snipe – 1980s winter

Annie

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.

More about the Jack Snipe in Pembrokeshire

Jack Snipe – 1894

Annie

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.

Mathew M.A. 1894, Birds of Pembrokeshire and its Islands

More about the Jack Snipe in Pembrokeshire

Jack Snipe

Annie

Lymnocryptes minimus – GIACH FACH – Winter visitor and passage migrant. Not recorded from May to July

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