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

2010 - 56 records over the winter months with max 9 on 28/02 and 25/10

2011 - 12 records, max 7 on 04/10

2012 - 23 records, max 8 birds on 31/12

2013 - 67 records mostly 1-10 birds, max 33 on 25/01, also 21 on 18/01

2014 - 74 records max 32 on 22/12 and also 21 on 16/12 and 26 on 31/01

2015 - 90 records max 41 on 15/12 (SH), a record count. Also 20 on 06/11

2016 - 47 records with max of 19 on 24/10

2017 - 17 records with max of 11 on 12/01

2018 - 6 records with max of 3 birds on 29/12 (water level rather high during expected peak periods)

2019 - 9 records, mostly in January when up to 5 birds seen. September was the only other month when snipe were seen with a max of 3 on 25/09

2020 - Just single on 23/09. The worst year since 2001. Water levels have been high this year with little shore

2021 - 7 records of singles apart from 3 on 13/12

2022 - 15 records of up to 4 birds

2023 - just one record of 1 bird on 03/09. Water levels very high this year with little shore