JACK SNIPE Lymnocryptes minimus
Uncommon passage and winter visitorRecorded each year from 1987 to 2013. Most recent sightings:
2014 -
As many as 15 birds were involved in the reports which came from the usual environs of Soil Hill, and Braithwaite Edge, above Keighley as well as Farnley Moor. The reports from the bleak summit of Soil Hill clearly concerned three birds, seen as singles during January, April and December. The Farnley Moor record was another winter bird on 30th January, but the sightings at Braithwaite Edge consisted of 11 reports of single birds, spread throughout the second winter period from the middle of October to the end of the year.
2015 -
Last year’s profusion of records was not repeated. This was due almost entirely to access being denied to a private patch of land at Braithwaite Edge, where wintering birds often gathered. There were also no sightings from Soil Hill. However, we did have two records: a bird was flushed from a soggy field at Apperley Bridge which also contained Common Snipe on 1st March and another was seen in similar circumstances at Otley Wetland on 31st January.
2016
- Whilst only five observers submitted reports from five sites, as many as 30 individual birds could have been seen. This bird is clearly a migrant in the area, rather than a winter resident, and the pattern of sightings at the regularly watched spots tends to indicate birds move on fairly quickly. As such, it is unlikely this figure is overstated, but, even allowing for some element of this, the number seen is comfortably a Group record. The sightings at the three main locations were;
Soil Hill: Singles on 18th March, and in autumn, 16th and 24th October, 4th, 5th, and 12th November.
Braithwaite Edge: Singles on 15th and 18th October, 5th and 27th November, and 4th and 17th December. Two birds were located on 14th October and 8th December.
Apperley Bridge: Singles on 20th October, 5th and 6th November, and 8th December. Two were present on 30th November, and 6th December, and an excellent four on 22nd October.
Elsewhere, a bird was flushed at Tong Park (Baildon) on 3rd November and there was an unexpected record of one passing Caldene Fields on the 17th.
2017
Good numbers were seen at two sites:
Keelham Bog: 11 between January and early March, and four in December.
Near Redcar Tarn: A single in February, one in March, three on a single day in November, and one in December.
In addition a dead bird was found on the road near Queensbury.
2018
- Access restrictions and a relatively dry second winter period possibly contributed to numbers being 50% down on 2017. Most reports came from Keelham Bog, where up to three were seen in January and February, and four in March. At Apperley Bridge, three birds were located, all in January.