BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Snipe

SNIPE
Gallinago gallinago

Conservation listings

Europe: SPEC category 3 (declining)
UK: amber (>50% population decline, but data possibly unrepresentative)

Long-term trend

UK: probable decline

Distribution maps

Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.

Status summary

Snipe were monitored by the CBC mainly in lowland England, where numbers have fallen rapidly since the 1970s as farmland has been drained (Gibbons et al. 1993, Siriwardena et al. 2000a). The CBC index was discontinued after 1984, when the number of occupied plots became too small (Marchant et al. 1990). The trend more generally is not fully known, but the 1988-91 atlas documented range loss widely in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, as well as lowland England, and a general decrease is probable. The BBS shows strong increases in England and in Scotland since 1994. Daily nest failure rates at the egg stage appear to have halved. Following declines across much of Europe during the 1990s, this previously 'secure' species is now provisionally evaluated as 'declining'.

Table of population changes for Snipe

Source	Period (yrs)	Years	Plots (n)	Change (%)	Lower limit	Upper limit	Alert	Comment
BBS UK	9	1994-2003	121	46	21	76
BBS England	9	1994-2003	54	47	13	91
BBS Scotland	9	1994-2003	51	47	9	100

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 34 1968-2002 13 None Small sample

Daily failure rate (eggs) 34 1968-2002 17 Linear decline 0.0326 nests/day 0.0154 nests/day -0.0172 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., Marchant, J.H., Crick, H.Q.P., Noble, D.G., Balmer, D.E., Beaven, L.P., Coombes, R.H., Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. and Thewlis, R.M. (2005) Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2004. BTO Research Report No. 385. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends) Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 18 January, 2006