Snipe Gallinago gallinago

Common breeding summer visitor, passage migrant and winter visitor

The earliest documented record of Snipe on Foula is in 1774 by Low, who noted the species as present on the island (cited in Pennington et al. 2004).

In 1960 Jackson (1966) estimated there to be 60 – 70 pairs with 3 nests found above 365m. In 1983 the breeding population was believed to be about 100 pairs in most years except 1982, where population dropped to 20 – 30 pairs following a hard winter (Furness, 1983).

Maximum counts of birds on passage in the autumn range between 100 and 200 birds.