This has been a very good winter for Snipe sightings. As well as the Jack snipes I blogged about back in December (Not one but two, 8 December), I enjoyed a more recent sighting, on 18 February, both of those thanks to local birder Graham’s use of a thermal imager. Then, yesterday, I spotted a Common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) in the same area. There was no need for an imaging device with this bird as it was sitting in plain sight, along the edge of an area of reeds. Snipe often take to the air immediately they notice movement nearby so I was extremely lucky that, even though it had obviously noticed me, this bird stayed put and let me take several photographs.