Jack Snipe

Jack Snipe is a very small, compact wader that can be easy to overlook until it moves. What stands out most is its tight, stocky shape and the way it seems to flick up and down as it goes.

It is secretive and tends to stay hidden in cover. When alarmed, it crouches still until the last moment, then flies off in a short, quick burst before dropping back into vegetation.

In breeding season it uses marshes, bogs, tundra, and wet meadows in northern Europe and northern Russia. It feeds on insects, earthworms, and some plant material, and spends the non-breeding season much farther south, including Britain, coastal Europe, Africa, and India.