Snipe

A regular winter visitor to Chard reservoir.

1931 - Occurs at times in some numbers around the reservoir, but no evidence of breeding.

29/11/62 - Maximum count of 20 birds.

24/11/92 - 6 birds.

25/03/93 - 4 birds.

25/12/93 - Maximum count of 11 birds on 'Jim's field.'

21/03/95 - 5 birds flushed.

15/12/96 - 2 birds on 'Jim's field.'

14/12/97 - Maximum count of 8 birds, seen from hide; by the inlet stream. 5 birds were seen on 20/12.

05/12/98 - 2 birds, perched on branch.

16/01/99 - 2 birds on 'Jim's field', seen from hide.

16/02/99 - Maximum count of 6 birds, flushed from 'Jim's field.'

25/01/00 - Single bird plus another on 12/03

02/12/01 - Single bird.

2002 - Seen daily from 03/09 to 19/10 with max of 8 birds on 30/09 and 6 birds through most of October. Also 5 on 30/11 and 3 on 26/12.

2003 - 5 on 11/01 and 2 the next day. Max 5 during September, 6 during October and 7 during November.

2004 - A few singles in September and December plus 4 on 29/03 and 4 on 31/12.

2005 - 15 on several dates in February. Max 20 on 17/03. 1-3 birds from September to October. 6 on 25/11, 15 on 13/12 reducing to 6 by 16/12.

2006 - Max 7 on 14/11 with 1-3 otherwise on many dates from September to the end of the year.

2007 - 10 records of up to 5 birds over the winter period.

2008 - 26 records in the winter period max 23 birds on 25/12/08 also 13 on 17/10/08 and 14 on 09/11/08

2009 - 82 records over the winter months with max 20 on 04/02/09 also 18 on 04/11/09