Jumping jack flash

No longer on the quarry list, the smaller relative of the common snipe is a colourful addition to our countryside

- LINDSAY WADDELL

I have always found the diminutive jack snipe delightful to see, both in flight and, in bygone days when they were quarry, in the hand. However, I must admit that, due to the more or less straight flight and their lack of size, I also thought they were not worth the cartridge. One would need a few to grace a slice of toast, or to use a very small sliver.

The jack snipe or Lymnocryptes minimus, the name in which it rejoices in Latin, is a winter migrant to these shores and it comes in relatively large numbers — an approximate total of 110,000. As you can imagine, as a wader, it is a bird that loves to get its feet wet, so marsh and bog are its favourite resting and feeding sites once it has dropped on to our shores. However, in common with many migrants, they can often be seen out on the moor as anywhere will do when these birds reach landfall.

I was quite surprised to see that it not only enjoys the food we would expect of a snipe, such as invertebrates, but also some plant material, which will take a little consuming for a bird with a bill.