Gordon Yates is a wildlife photographer and many of his superb images of Hen Harriers have graced these pages over the years.

He sent me this image of a Jack Snipe in the snow and said that it was the first he’d ever managed to photograph. It’s rare to see the bird this well.

Jack Snipe are smaller than Common Snipe, don’t jink about when flushed and don’t normally call when flushed. They are renowned for sitting very tight and often fly up from literally under one’s foot if you walk through a wetland.

I remember walking through a wet field in Denmark with some others (we were told to!) and we were looking for Jack Snipe. I think that between us we flushed about eight and none of us spotted them on the ground, even though we thought we were looking hard for them.

I haven’t seen one for a few years though there are local records here in Northants at the moment.

Sometimes, at a nature reserve, there is a Jack Snipe feeding just outside a hide and you can really get a good look at the bird. They bob up and down a lot een when walking along, and often feed with a rapid motion a bit like a sewing machine. What is that bobbing all about?

Here’s a handy BTO identification guide to the two species which gives you some more views of Jack Snipe in case you haven’t been lucky enough to come across one in the wild.

Tim Melling has been photographing Jack Snipe too – I’ll post his image on Saturday at 6pm.

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