Snipe soar, woodcock wait

Birdwatchers, farmers and rough shooters have noticed an increase in snipe numbers, but continuing warm temperatures in Russia, Scandinavia and the Baltic have meant the woodcock are yet to move.

Ornithologists at the Fair Isle Observatory between Orkney and Shetland noted groups of the birds arriving from late September, with numbers building in October. Large numbers of snipe breed in Iceland and winter in the UK, and these are likely to be the birds that were spotted.

Farmer William Nelson told Shooting Times that significant numbers of snipe had arrived on his land in the south-west of Scotland in the past few weeks. He said: “There has been a definite increase over the past fortnight; in areas where

I would normally see one or two, I am now flushing large numbers of them.”

Woodcock are showing their typical annual pattern of not moving until well into November. There have been no reports from coastal observatories of large falls of woodcock, and tagged woodcock have yet to leave their breeding grounds. This means that any woodcock encountered on shoot days are highly likely to be from the dwindling UK breeding population. The Woodcock Moon will fall on 8 November this year; however, good practice is not to shoot woodcock before 1 December.

27% A day of walked-up grouse

19% A morning on the foreshore

9% Woodcock over pointers

While snipe are arriving in number, the woodcock are yet to move If you could only go shooting one last time, what would you rather it was? 45% Driven pheasants