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