Snipe

Listen to example recordings of the main vocalisations of Snipe, provided by xeno-canto contributors.

This species can be found on the following statutory and conservation listings and schedules.

UK Birds of Conservation Concern	Amber listed
Species of European Conservation Concern	Vulnerable
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (global)	Least Concern
Schedule 1 license required (to disturb)	No
Birds Directive Annex 1	No
Listed on the Annexes of	WCA(II,III), WBD(II*,III*), Bern(III), Bonn(II), AEWA

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 fell from the early 1970s until 1984, when the number of occupied plots became too small for further monitoring (Marchant et al. 1990), and the graph is not included here. Surveys in England and Wales revealed a decrease of 62% in breeding birds in wet meadows between 1982 and 2002, with the remaining birds becoming highly aggregated into a tiny number of suitable sites. The trend in the upland and moorland strongholds of the species 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 atlas work during 2008-11 confirmed that range loss or population decrease has been evident almost everywhere (Balmer et al. 2013). In Northern Ireland, the breeding population had shrunk to just 1,123 (527-1,782) pairs by 2013, representing a decrease of around 78% since 1987, with the distribution becoming increasingly fragmented (Colhoun et al. 2015). The BBS showed initial increases from 1995, especially in Scotland, but a sharp downturn from around 2002 to 2012, since when numbers have been stable or increasing. There has been a decline across Europe since 1980 (PECBMS: PECBMS 2020a>).

UK breeding population

No population change in UK (1995–2022)

Snipes are the most widespread wintering waders in Britain & Ireland, occuring in 88% of 10-km squares, spanning a wide range of lowland and upland habitats, except for the highest parts of Scotland. Densities are highest in southwest Ireland, the Northern Isles and in the coastal margins of Britain & Ireland. As a breeder, highest densities are focused in Scotland, northwest England, Wales and in the midlands and west of Ireland.

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Occupied 10-km squares in UK

No. occupied in breeding season	1640
% occupied in breeding season	54
No. occupied in winter	2647
% occupied in winter	88

European Distribution Map

European Breeding Bird Atlas 2

Breeding Season Habitats

Most frequent in	Lakes
Also common in	Bog, Marsh

Relative frequency by habitat

Relative occurrence in different habitat types during the breeding season.

Snipes are recorded throughout the year though particularly evident during autumn and winter.

View a summary of recoveries in the Online Ringing Report.

Foreign locations of birds ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland

View number ringed each year in the Online Ringing Report

Maximum Age from Ringing	16 years 0 months 19 days (set in 1993)
Typical Lifespan	3 years with breeding typically at 2 year
Adult Survival	0.481±0.054
Juvenile Survival	0.48 (in first year)

Wing Length	Adults	136.1±3.9 | Range 129–142mm, N=754
	Juveniles	136.1±4.1 | Range 130-142mm, N=661

Body Weight	Adults	108±12.2 | Range 91.0–129g, N=643
	Juveniles	106±11.1 | Range 89.0–124g, N=598

Feather measurements and photos on featherbase

Ring size	C or C2 (pulli D or D2)
Field Codes	2-letter: SN | 5-letter code: SNIPE | Euring: 5190

For information in another language (where available) click on a linked name

Causes of change

The reasons for the decline are unknown.

Further information on causes of change

During the decline in wet meadows in England and Wales between 1982 and 2002, birds were more likely to persist where soils remained soft and wet (Wilson et al. 2005); however the fact that Snipe have continued to decline, despite soil conditions being improved for them at many lowland wetland reserves, suggests that other key aspects of habitat quality, such as prey abundance, are more likely to be driving the decline (Smart et al. 2008). Buchanan et al. ( 2017) found that a varied vegetation composition was important and that abundance increased with higher vegetation height. In Scotland at least, agri-environment schemes can benefit this species (O'Brien & Wilson 2011).

Increases in Snipe numbers at Langholm Moor between 2008 and 2017 were attributed to predator control (Ludwig et al. 2019). However, this study was at a single site only and further research is needed to investigate whether predation may have contributed to the wider decline of this species. In contrast, nest record scheme data, although based on a low sample size, show that daily failure rates at the egg stage appear to have more than halved since 1967 suggesting predation is not a cause of decline, at least at the nest.

Information about conservation actions

This species is now restricted mainly to key sites such as nature reserves where conservation management for waders is undertaken; however, numbers are still declining even where suitable management occurs (Smart et al. 2008) and therefore further research may be required to confirm the reasons for the decline before lasting solutions can be identified.

In the meantime, managing fields to provide wet and soft soil conditions is likely to enable Snipe to continue to persist at existing sites. This can be achieved through decreased grazing pressure and increasing surface flooding, e.g. by raising water levels (Smart et al. 2008). Opening up rush patches by cutting and grazing, digging scrapes and heightening water levels increased breeding snipe numbers at a site in Cumbria (Holton & Allcorn 2006) although it is unclear which of the actions were most important. Snipe breeding in upland Britain depend on unimproved marginal grassland and wet habitats (Hoodless et al. 2010), and hence it is important that such areas are retained or made available as part of the habitat mosaic.

A long-term conservation strategy will need to provide suitable wet habitat across the wider countryside to enable Snipe to recolonise away from key sites. However, a study in Northern Ireland suggested that intensive pastoral farming and ongoing activities such as drainage and peat extraction was likely to further reduce the suitability of open habitats (Henderson et al. 2002). Conservation policies may therefore be required here and elsewhere in the UK to encourage and enable the protection and provision of Snipe habitat.