The British Trust for Ornithology
SNIPE
Gallinago gallinago
 Snipe © G Olioso
 
Conservation Listings

Unlisted/Amber (25-49% population decline)
Biodiversity Steering Group Conservation Concern List
Long term trend
UK: Probable decline
Status Summary
Although Snipe are poorly monitored by the CBC because of their northern, western and upland breeding distribution, index values indicate numbers on farmland have fallen considerably since the early 1980s. The decline and range contraction in lowland Britain is probably due to the drainage of farmland during agricultural intensification affecting productivity (Gibbons et al. 1993, Siriwardena et al. 2000). The BBS shows no clear population trend in the 1990s in either England or Scotland.
Table of population changes for Snipe
Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
CBC farmland 31 1968-1999 9 -64 -96 -39 >50 Small sample
  25 1974-1999 7 -70 -96 -53 >50 Small sample
  10 1989-1999 5 -36 -74 15   Small sample
  5 1994-1999 4 54 1 111   Small sample
BBS UK 6 1994-2000 116 35 9 65    
BBS England 6 1994-2000 50 18 -11 57   Small sample
BBS Scotland 6 1994-2000 53 43 2 99    
The Breeding Bird Survey is jointly funded by BTO, JNCC and RSPB
Table of productivity information for Snipe
Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Predicted
in first year		 Predicted
in last year		 Change Comment
Clutch size 31 1968-1999 14 None       Small sample
Daily failure rate (eggs) 31 1968-1999 18 Linear decline 0.0328 nests/day 0.0173 nests/day -0.0155 nests/day Small sample
Insufficient data on brood size
available for this species
Insufficient data on nestling failure
available for this species

 

Insufficient data on laying date
available for this species

 

 

Insufficient data on CES
available for this species

 




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This report should be cited as:
Baillie, S.R., Crick, H.Q.P., Balmer, D.E., Beaven, L.P., Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Leech, D.I., Marchant, J.H.,
Noble, D.G., Raven, M.J., Simpkin, A.P., Thewlis, R.M. and Wernham, C.V. (2002) Breeding Birds in the Wider
Countryside: their conservation status 2001. BTO Research Report No. 278. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends)

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