Jack Snipe

The jack snipe is the smallest snipe and the only member of its genus, 18–25 cm long with a wingspan of 30–41 cm and a weight of 33–73 g. It is a small, stocky wader, smaller than the common snipe with a relatively shorter bill. The body is mottled brown on top and pale underneath, with a dark stripe through the eye, pointed narrow wings and yellow back stripes visible in flight (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is migratory, spending the non-breeding period in Britain, Atlantic and Mediterranean coastal Europe, Africa and India. Its breeding habitat is marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows with short vegetation in northern Europe and northern Russia, and it nests in a well-hidden place on the ground with three or four eggs. It mainly eats insects and earthworms, and some plant material. Well camouflaged, it is secretive in its non-breeding areas and hard to see. SoIB 2023 lists it as a winter migrant of wetland that eats invertebrates, and does not assign a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).