What they like

Wet mess. Muddy ditch edges, squelchy pasture, peat and marshy hayfields. Soft ground where its long bill can probe. Make it easy for them: keep a corner of your garden or yard wet, create a shallow pond, keep banks gentle and untidy. In parks or the countryside: choose natural banks and leave scrubby vegetation along the water. On farmland: keep fields damp and leave ditches wet for longer.

Ecological importance

The common snipe is a probe-feeder in places teeming with life. It mainly eats earthworms, insect larvae and small snails. And it is itself prey for raptors: a healthy food chain, straight from the mud.

When in the Netherlands

Mostly a passage migrant and winter visitor from autumn to early spring. It still breeds, but in few places, mainly in wet nature reserves.

Status

Declining. Fewer wet, herb-rich grasslands and less quiet means fewer snipes. Holding on to more water helps immediately.