Nick Upton / Common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) probing for food, Gloucestershire, England, UK, October.

Pedro Narra / Common snipes (Gallinago gallinago) feeding, Sado Estuary, Portugal. December

Nick Upton / Common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) probing mud for invertebrate food on a lake margin, Gloucestershire, UK, January.

Nick Upton / Common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) well camouflaged among old rush stems in flooded marshland, Greylake RSPB reserve, Somerset Levels, UK, February.

Nick Upton / Common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) standing alert in marshland, Greylake RSPB reserve, Somerset Levels, UK, February.

Hermann Brehm / Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) autumn courtship display, Germany, August.

Andy Sands / Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) male on fence post in evening sunlight. Upper Teesdale, Durham, England, UK, June

Andy Sands / Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) on fence post. Upper Teesdale, Durham, England, UK, June

Thomas Hinsche/ BIA / Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) foraging, Burgenland, Austria

Thomas Hinsche/ BIA / Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) foraging, Burgenland, Austria

Thomas Hinsche/ BIA / Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), Burgenland, Austria

David Tipling / Common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) in drumming display flight over breeding ground Unst, Shetland, Scotland, UK.June