The snipe are a group of waders with beautifully cryptic camouflaged plumage.
Around the world there are a number of species all of them incredibly similar
but only two regularly occur in the UK and luckily for us they can be easily told apart.
As is so often the case, with species pairs in the UK, one species is much more common
than the other and familiarity with this one, in this case, Common Snipe, will help in
picking out individuals of the much scarcer Jack Snipe.
The Common Snipe, referred to now on just as 'Snipe', are widespread but declining breeding birds
and are found primarily in the upland areas but outside of the breeding season they are
common birds with numbers greatly swelled by immigrants and found in a large range of habitats such as
wetlands, coastal marshes, wet grass, bogs and flushes.
They are handsome birds, fairly chunky with shortish legs and a long bill and they are pale underneath
and brown above.
They can often be watched on the ground and then their plumage can be admired in more detail.
The feathers have complex pale, brown and black markings and two features stand out well -
a neat set of creamy yellow stripes down the back and a stripey head with dark stripes through
the eyes and the top of the head with a central crown stripe being pale.
The birds are usually furtive and well hidden but on occasion, they are relaxed enough to
feed out in the open at which point, their distinctive 'sewing machine' feeding action
of the head can often be observed.
Jack Snipe is a much rarer visitor, found mostly on passage or through the winter.
It can be found in similar habitats to Snipe, although it seems to prefer well vegetated, soggy areas.
Unlike Snipe, Jack Snipe will avoid being out in the open, so you are highly unlikely
to find one feeding.
If however, you are very lucky, you will get a rare chance to study the bird.
'Jack' is often a term used in wildlife to mean 'lesser value' or 'small' and Jack Snipe is
definitely the smaller relative of Snipe, although body size is not that different.
The legs are much shorter however, and most noticeably, the beak is far shorter than on a Snipe
only just over a little longer than the head.
The pale lines down the back are much more obvious than on Snipe and are a straw yellow in colour,
contrasting nicely with the darker back which, in good light, has a green sheen to it.
Although the face is also stripey, the pattern differs markedly from Snipe
and the central crown stripe on Jack Snipe is dark.
When feeding Jack Snipe are utterly distinctive with the whole body bobbing up and down in a
hynoptic fashion, very different to Snipe, that tends to hold its body still whilst feeding.
For most of us though, we have to be content with the sudden sight of a
Jack Snipe as it is flushed from the ground in front of us.
Both of these species flush and the way that they do so differs and this can be a
key identification feature.
Jack Snipe habitually wait until the very last moment before flushing silently right
in front of your feet, they're 'heart attack' birds.
They tend not to rise very high and they fly level before dropping back down again.
Once you have recovered from the shock, you should have time to notice that the
trailing edge to the fluttering wings is all dark.
Although the birds go up very late, the escape flight is relatively slow.
Snipe also flush in front of you but they tend to go up sooner, not right
underneath your feet.
They invariably call as they go as well and the escape flight
is fast and appears panicked.
The birds rise high quickly and characteristically zigzag back and forth before flying off,
invariably to some distance.
The white trailing edge to the wing should be visible.
One word of caution, if you flush a brown wader, don't forget the possibility of a Woodcock.
We tend to think of them as woodland birds although even breeding
birds will often feed in damp fields in the evenings.
In winter, birds can turn up anywhere, even gardens on occasion.
Woodcock is a much larger bird than either snipe, but will suddenly flush
from close in front of you.
If seen well, however, the most obvious plumage feature are
the horizontal black bars on the head and the bird rises on noisily whirring wings.
The chestnut rump could be obvious and to me, the very peaked forehead of Woodcock
always makes it look as if the beak is on the bird at the wrong angle.