GPS tags reveal snipe’s remarkable spring journeys

Tracking snipe

Five of seven common snipe fitted with GPS tags by GWCT researchers this spring have left their tagging sites and begun their migrations, with early data showing the birds heading for destinations as far apart as Iceland and central Finland.

Researchers tagged six birds in Cornwall and one in Fife in March, as part of a project to map the breeding routes of a species whose migratory patterns remain poorly understood. Of the 14 snipe caught across both sites, only seven weighed more than 100g and could be tagged – the threshold set to ensure the 3g tags, including harness and foam base, did not exceed 3% of body weight.

The first bird to depart was Treskewes, which left Lanarth on 26 March and covered more than 1,500 miles in 19 days, tracking east through Belgium, Germany and Denmark before crossing the Baltic to settle in Keski-Suomi Province in central Finland. A second Cornish bird, Polquest, flew west to County Donegal before continuing north to Iceland. A third, Dee, made an 800-mile crossing to the Netherlands and northern Germany in four days, then pressed on to Finland via Sweden.

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Scottish bird crossed North Sea

Neuk, the sole Scottish bird tagged in 2026, crossed nearly 400 miles of open ocean to reach the Norwegian coast, eventually settling at Sveio in Vestland.

Two birds, Pascoe and Turncoat, had not left Cornwall at the time of writing.

Bleddyn Thomas, who tagged the birds at both sites, said: “It’s not possible yet to say with certainty whether these are where our tagged snipe will breed, as they could continue to travel further. Nevertheless, the differences in the directions they took highlights the geographic variation in the breeding locations of the UK’s overwintering snipe.”