In 1998, Friday 9th October was our first full day on Scilly and, since there was 'nothing about' (not true, of course, as on our arrival the previous afternoon we had seen Olivaceous Warbler, Ring-necked Duck, Wryneck, Firecrest and Lapland Bunting), Jon Baker, Andrew Chamberlin, Pete Milford and I decided to look for Jack Snipe from the Lower Moors Hide, St Mary's. This did not take long (we found three), so we opted to stay until we had counted 20 Common Snipe. The variability amongst them was striking, but 'number 21' appeared immediately different by an order of magnitude, and from the outset we found ourselves wondering why it was not a Wilson's Snipe.
At first glance, this bird looked colder-toned, with blacker dark areas and whiter stripes - like a Broad-billed Sandpiper amongst Dunlin - the very opposite of the many warm, rusty faeroeensis race Common Snipes present, although admittedly superficially similar to at least one other 'grey' snipe there. The blackish flank barring was bolder and more extensive than on the Common Snipes, recalling Great Snipe, and clearly contrasted against a white background, with all brown tones being restricted to the upper breast. The lesser and median coverts formed a grey panel, off-setting a very striking dark band of greater coverts. The face pattern recalled Pintail Snipe, with the supercilium bulging in front of the eye and considerably broader than the eye-stripe at the base of the bill, and the legs were duller, more greyish-green, than the cleaner green of the accompanying Common Snipe. It also seemed significant that whenever it approached a Common Snipe it was chased away. (It was subsequently noted that it tended to roost alone too, set apart from the clusters of Common Snipe.) It was slightly smaller than most (but not all) of the Common Snipe. On this first sighting, it refused to raise its wing or spread its tail, so we returned to our flat for a cuppa.
There, we discovered that Peter Poole had predicted Wilson's Snipe as this year's discovery on Scilly, and had brought with him the relevant copy of Birding World (Carey & Olsson 1995). This confirmed the significance of the face pattern, the darker and more extensive flank barring, the contrast between the upper and lower breast background colour and, in general, the number of characters intermediate between Common and Pintail Snipe. A visit to the excellent new ornithological reference library at the Environmental Office gave access to Cramp et al. (1983) and Hayman et al. (1986), which similarly confirmed the importance of the features we had already noted.
We returned to Lower Moors and found all the snipe in stretching and preening mode, and it was not long before the Wilson's Snipe had spread its tail and raised its wing, revealing the important features of the pattern on the axillanes and underwing-coverts and the narrow white trailing edge to the secondaries. PP also noted that the feeding action differed from Common Snipe: in general, the Wilson's kept its bill under the water for longer periods, raising the tip clear only when it ceased feeding.
A CB radio alert of 'a snipe showing the features of Wilson's' brought many observers quickly to the hide and, happily, during the following days, many excellent photographs and several hours of video footage were taken, which even allowed the important eight pairs of tail feathers to be counted (Common normally has seven). Even so, a common and understandable reaction amongst sceptics was 'Show me one feature that is not present to some degree on any of the other snipes'. The seemingly infinite variability of Common Snipes (including different races, sexes and ages) makes snipe identification difficult, of course, and it must be stressed that only a combination of many features should be taken as diagnostic.
Finally, on 28th October, I visited the British Museum (Tring), with Peter Colston and AC. We thoroughly examined the 100 Wilson's Snipe and 600 Common Snipe skins there, and this confirmed beyond doubt that the Scilly bird was indeed a Wilson's Snipe - the first British record, although following hotly on the publication earlier this year of the acceptance of the first for the Western Palearctic, a juvenile shot near Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on 28th October 1991 (Milne & O'Sullivan 1998).
At a glance, the museum trays showed Wilson's to be noticeably colder and blacker than Common Snipe, with generally finer (particularly on juveniles) and whiter edges to the scapulars and greyer lesser and median coverts (which is possibly why the greater coverts looked blacker). Some individuals showed buff rather than white on the scapular edges, but the overall dark appearance seemed consistent. In fact, in all respects, Wilson's showed less variability than Common. Other constant differences were the underwing and axillary pattern, the barring and background colour on the flanks, and the narrower white tips to the secondaries of a consistently different shape. On all the skins, the barring on the axillaries (mostly of equal width black and white, but often more black than white - the reverse of Common, which always showed more white than black) was so similar to the barring on the flanks that it was difficult to see where the two feather tracts met (unlike in Common). The underwing-coverts were also strongly barred, with reduced white tips (unlike most Commons). Another frequent feature not obvious on the Common Snipe was the tiny white 'pips' on the upper scapulars. Also, in general (although caution is necessary where old skins are concerned), the central crown stripe and the loral stripe both seemed narrower on Wilson's.
Obviously, the world's snipe could be the subject of a lifetime's study, so this discussion and the captions to the accompanying photographs (written overnight to a deadline) are not meant to be a definitive study. Meanwhile, it is probably true to say that, during October 1998, more people looked at more snipe more closely and for more hours than ever before. It may not be too long before the first British Pintail Snipe is found.
Plate 9: Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus, left, Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago, centre, and Wilson's Snipe G. delicata, Lower Moors, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, October 1998 (Tony Collinson). Lower Moors in October 1998 provided a unique opportunity to study these three species together. The generally colder-toned appearance of the Wilson's Snipe was a good pointer to its identity, even if not diagnostic in itself due to the variability of Common Snipe. The very obvious black bar of the greater coverts was a usetul feature tor picking Out this particular individual. The case for re-splitting Wilson's Snipe from Common Snipe (already adopted by Birding World and CDNA, following Carey & Qlsson 1995) seems overwhelming.
References
Carey, C. & Olsson, U. 1995. Field identification
of Common, Wilson's, Pintail & Swinhoes Snipes. Birding World 8:179-190.
Cramp, S. et at. 1983. Handbook of the
Birds ef Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Vol. 3. Oxford.
Hayman, P., Marchant, J. & Prater, T. 1986. Shorebirds.
Beckenham. Mime, P. & O'Sullivan, 0. 1998. Forty-fourth Irish
Bird Report, 1996. Irish
Birds 6: 61-96.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks are due to the many photographers (a
tiny selection of whose work is reproduced here) who so diligently
and vitally documented the bird, proving once again that the camera
is mightier than the gun and that the interests of science and the
respect for life need not be incompatible. Also to the many observers
for useful discussions (especially Ian Lewington and Jon Baker, who
also visited the British Museum) and also the staff at the British
Museum for kindly allowing access to the skin collection.
Bryan Bland, Norfolk.
Another seven colour photographs of the St Mary's bird, with very detailed captions, appear in the original Birding World article (in Volume 11 Number 10) which is available as a back issue. To obtain a copy, e-mail sales@birdingworld.co.uk