Specie's Page                                               Wilson's Snipe - Small Waders

Wilson's Snipe:

UK Status: A rare vagrant to the UK, there are very few records, mostly from the Scilly Isles. The one pictured was seen four to five days after storm Erin came over the Atlantic in late August 2025, and battered the Welsh coast, at about the time when they would have been starting their southerly migration.

Habitat: This wader inhabits damp, marshy and sheltered wetlands. It's natural range is in Canada and the north of the United States of America. It migrates to overwinter in the south of the USA, northern parts of South America and the Caribbean.

Breeding: Wilson's Snipe nest on the ground, usually in well concealed locations. Nests are a shallow scrapes in soft ground, and are lined with local vegetation, including grass and reeds. Eggs are of an olive brown colour splotched with darker purple, black or brown marks. There are between two to four eggs per clutch, very similar in appearance to those of the Common Snipe, and they take about three weeks to hatch.

Comment: This species was thought to be a sub species of the Common Snipe, but in 2003 was declared a species in it's own right. There are subtle differences between the two species of bird. The white outline around the wing edges is narrower, brighter, and more well pronounced in the Wilson's. The broad stripe along the back is narrower. Wilson's has sixteen tail feathers, compared to fourteen tail feathers on a Common Snipe. There are also subtle differences to the primary feathers, on the undersides of the wing.