How do snipe drum?

A'Drumming’ is a courtship behaviour performed by the males of several members of the snipe family, including both British species – the common snipe and the rarer jack snipe. Also referred to as ‘bleating’ or ‘winnowing’, it's one of the most atmospheric sounds of the natural world, particularly when heard on a still, moonlit night.

How the sound is made has been the subject of much conjecture. There were beliefs that it was emitted by spirits or created by bats. In 1912, ornithologist Philip Manson-Bahr finally succeeded in proving that the eerie noise was produced as the snipe rose high in the sky and performed a series of descending loops, holding out two stiffened outer tail feathers to catch the air in the process.

With numbers of breeding common snipe falling across the British Isles, due to habitat loss, this ethereal avian percussion is becoming an increasingly rare occurrence.

In winter, common snipe can be spotted at pool edges; in spring, they frequent moorlands, where males ‘drum’ to woo females.