Snipe maybe taken off quarry list

pheasantmad

Was talking to one of the lads that attended the LRGC meeting the other night and he was saying that it was said at the meeting the NARGC are having some trouble trying to keep Snipe on our quarry list as there is pressure coming from Europe who are saying there is a serious decline in numbers in the euro area, anyone else hear anything like this???

gozunda

pheasantmad wrote: »

Was talking to one of the lads that attended the LRGC meeting the other night and he was saying that it was said at the meeting the NARGC are having some trouble trying to keep Snipe on our quarry list as there is pressure coming from Europe who are saying there is a serious decline in numbers in the euro area, anyone else hear anything like this???

Yup it seems snipe gave been in decline largely due to habitat loss and over predation.

See

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=2989

Imo have noticed a decline in snipe numbers over the last couple of years - you just don't hear them calling like anything like previous years.

Capercaille

gozunda wrote: »

Yup it seems snipe gave been in decline largely due to habitat loss and over predation.

See

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=2989

Imo have noticed a decline in snipe numbers over the last couple of years - you just don't hear them calling like anything like previous years.

The link is for great snipe, a different species. (Common) snipe have experienced a 34% decrease in breeding numbers over the last 40 years. Wintering snipe have increased by 6% over the last 30 years. Snipe are the most common wader in Ireland, not difficult though since all other waders are in steep decline.

Varmint Shooter

Land drainage in my area has led to a reduction in areas they frequent. Not sure if numbers have actually declined but I imagine with less habitat that a drop in numbers would be likely too.

I'd be sad to see them taken off our quarry list but if a reduction in numbers can be scientifically proven then I'd accept it.

dodderangler

Dunno about not hunting them but certainly a limit on shooting them.
2or3 a day not 9or10. No need for it.

Varmint Shooter

dodderangler wrote: »

Dunno about not hunting them but certainly a limit on shooting them.
2or3 a day not 9or10. No need for it.

Only problem is there are those who would observe the limit and there are those who wouldn't..................same as all the other rules that lads seem to ignore when it comes to hunting !

gozunda

Capercaille wrote: »

The link is for great snipe, a different species. (Common) snipe have experienced a 34% decrease in breeding numbers over the last 40 years. Wintering snipe have increased by 6% over the last 30 years. Snipe are the most common wader in Ireland, not difficult though since all other waders are in steep decline.

The OP didn't dpecify species to be fair. And great snipe are found in Ireland and are in decline in all habitats. Other species as discussed.

Capercaille

gozunda wrote: »

The OP didn't dpecify species to be fair. And great snipe are found in Ireland and are in decline in all habitats. Other species as discussed.

Great Snipe are not found in Ireland.
Snipe= (Common) Snipe.

allan450

That put a downer on things alright.around me snipe are plentiful.Thats what i mostly shoot.woodcock are going to be red listed also.Look these people in europe are slowly getting their way.bird after bird are been slowly perfected until their is none left.iv seen more snipe this year then any other year.

gozunda

Capercaille wrote: »

Great Snipe are not found in Ireland.
Snipe= (Common) Snipe.

They are in fact known to be a rare migratory species in Ireland - I gave them as an example of the species as a whole and depopulation.

Capercaille

gozunda wrote: »

They are in fact known to be a rare migratory species in Ireland - I gave them as an example of the species as a whole and depopulation.

A handful of records in the last 100 years. Great snipe have no relevance to (Common) Snipe in Ireland. Where have Great snipe been seen in Ireland?

dodderangler

Varmint Shooter wrote: »

Only problem is there are those who would observe the limit and there are those who wouldn't..................same as all the other rules that lads seem to ignore when it comes to hunting !

True enough.
It really does annoy me.
In a days hunt I'd be happy with a pheasant and a snipe or two and that's it. If I got them in first 20 mins I'd just walk around the land and enjoy what I got.
Not always about killing.

gozunda

Capercaille wrote: »

A handful of records in the last 100 years. Great snipe have no relevance to (Common) Snipe in Ireland. Where have Great snipe been seen in Ireland?

The link was an example as the species is in general decline ... But yes great snipe are a recorded species.

Look up some of the twitcher sites for details on sightings ...

Capercaille

gozunda wrote: »

The link was an example as the species is in general decline ... But yes great snipe are a recorded species.

Look up some of the twitcher sites for details on sightings ...

Great Snipe breeding requirements are very different to (Common) Snipe. The link you gave is totally irrelevant since Great Snipe are a totally different species to Common Snipe. You seem to know about Great Snipe in Ireland, where are they found?

gozunda

Capercaille wrote: »

Great Snipe breeding requirements are very different to (Common) Snipe. The link you gave is totally irrelevant since Great Snipe are a totally different species to Common Snipe. You seem to know about Great Snipe in Ireland, where are they found?

Pedantic much? The link is nothing to do with specifics of any particular variety of snipe - rather the general decline in snipe populations. Both Common and great snipe belong to the 'Gallinago' family and are infract closely related. Apologies if I confused you. Just ignore.

dodderangler

What size difference is there with the common snipe and great snipe

Capercaille

gozunda wrote: »

Pedantic much? The link is nothing to do with specifics of any particular variety of snipe - rather the general decline in snipe populations. Both Common and great snipe belong to the 'Gallinago' family and are infract closely related. Apologies if I confused you. Just ignore.

Here's the link you meant to put up for Common Snipe
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=31051

Capercaille

dodderangler wrote: »

What size difference is there with the common snipe and great snipe

Great Snipe marginally bigger with heavy barring on belly. Also alot of white on outer tail feathers. I saw 3 at a lekking site in Biebrza mashes (Poland) this year. They have a remarkable bubbling call when lekking.

djflawless

On the subject, anyone get a phone call about bag returns this week??

gozunda

Capercaille wrote: »

Here's the link you meant to put up for Common Snipe
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=31051

Erhh no definitely not. But hey post whatever you wish.

Capercaille

gozunda wrote: »

Erhh no definitely not. .

why?

mallards

I dug out a photo of a great snipe taken from the Dublin natural history museum. It's seems to have been shot in Antrim.

gozunda

gozunda wrote: »

Erhh no definitely not. But hey post whatever you wish.

For the benefit of clarity - common snipe go by the Latin name Gallinago gallinago and great snipe are called Gallinago media. Gallinago delicate aka wilsons snipe are a shore variety a sub species of common snipe afaik.

Capercaille

gozunda wrote: »

For the benefit of clarity - common snipe go by the Latin name Gallinago gallinago and great snipe are called Gallinago media. Gallinago delicate aka wilsons snipe are a shore variety a sub species of common snipe afaik.

My apologies, your link for Great Snipe is more relevant for the conservation status of Common snipe in Ireland, than a link for Gallinago gallinago (Common snipe).

shotie

ive seen loads of snipe this year so far .where every theres a wet patch there be snipe. next it be pheasant and duck to be off the list .if habitat loss is the problem wouldnt ya think the nargc would be doing something to save key areas like bogs and wetlands .same think happened to the curlew there wasnt the habitat for them so there numbers droped save the habitats and youl save the birds .there wont be a any bird left to shoot if there going to keep this crack up ,bogs are been cleared for wind turbines,forests are been cut down.ditches been took out .land been drained .
and with all the so called research why do they always leave it till the last minit when theres only so many breeding pairs of birds left surly they would no after years of research when populations are going down then is the time to do something about it not leave it to the last minit when theres only a few breeding pairs left .if the nargc bought little pockets of dirty land and gave it out to gun clubs wouldnt it be a huge help knowing that piece of land will always stay that way un-touched ,where's a farmer might decide next year he will reclaim that spot of land and that be another spot lost .

Capercaille

shotie wrote: »

ive seen loads of snipe this year so far .where every theres a wet patch there be snipe. next it be pheasant and duck to be off the list .if habitat loss is the problem wouldnt ya think the nargc would be doing something to save key areas like bogs and wetlands .same think happened to the curlew there wasnt the habitat for them so there numbers droped save the habitats and youl save the birds .there wont be a any bird left to shoot if there going to keep this crack up ,bogs are been cleared for wind turbines,forests are been cut down.ditches been took out .land been drained .
and with all the so called research why do they always leave it till the last minit when theres only so many breeding pairs of birds left surly they would no after years of research when populations are going down then is the time to do something about it not leave it to the last minit when theres only a few breeding pairs left .if the nargc bought little pockets of dirty land and gave it out to gun clubs wouldnt it be a huge help knowing that piece of land will always stay that way un-touched ,where's a farmer might decide next year he will reclaim that spot of land and that be another spot lost .

NGO's like NARGC/BWI are too small and lack adequate funding to buy up large tracts of land. The Government lack the political will to preserve bogs from widespread turfcutting and prevent continued land drainage of agricultural land. Harvest 2020 will only intensify habitat destruction for snipe.

shotie

Capercaille wrote: »

NGO's like NARGC/BWI are too small and lack adequate funding to buy up large tracts of land. The Government lack the political will to preserve bogs from widespread turfcutting and prevent continued land drainage of agricultural land. Harvest 2020 will only intensify habitat destruction for snipe.

i wouldnt be taking buying large areas of land only dirty corners not even half acres spots of land not used by farmers these small pockets witch hold vast numbers of birds and wildlife are keys spots that are not been used and will end up only be reclaimed by the farmer in a few years i seen this happen in my area where a farmer had a dirty piece of land fenced off not been used would of happly took small money for ,was only a dirty corner in the field and now its reclaimed and still not been used if the likes of a club or the nargc only asked for this spot to be even left it probably wouldnt have been reclaimed farmers would only be happy to leave or sell spots like this but when not they just reclaim them .clubs need to start buying or renting or doing something for these dirty spots to try save them from be reclaimed

Buggs

shotie wrote: »

ive seen loads of snipe this year so far .where every theres a wet patch there be snipe.

Likewise, any wettish ground and i've flushed snipe. Also, met a few on stubble in the last week as well.

Birdnuts

shotie wrote: »

i wouldnt be taking buying large areas of land only dirty corners not even half acres spots of land not used by farmers these small pockets witch hold vast numbers of birds and wildlife are keys spots that are not been used and will end up only be reclaimed by the farmer in a few years i seen this happen in my area where a farmer had a dirty piece of land fenced off not been used would of happly took small money for ,was only a dirty corner in the field and now its reclaimed and still not been used if the likes of a club or the nargc only asked for this spot to be even left it probably wouldnt have been reclaimed farmers would only be happy to leave or sell spots like this but when not they just reclaim them .clubs need to start buying or renting or doing something for these dirty spots to try save them from be reclaimed

The sad thing is that a lot of farmers would be happy to leave these wilder bits alone if it wasn't for the pressure they are under from muppets in the Dept of Agriculture forcing farmers to destroy any bit of natural cover on their land to claim their full Single farm payment grants. The even have a whole section in the Dept that uses satellite imagery to spy on farmers and make sure they clear any bit of scrub etc.they might have in a field corner. The irony is that this provides little benefit to Irish farming since the price of lamb, beef etc. has been tanking for years due to over production here and elsewhere which makes clearing extra bits of land totally nonsensical. This government has also diverted large amounts of money that was ear-marked for wildlife friendly farming by the EU into the pockets of bigger more intensive farmers who already bag most of the CAP money.

PS: On the subject of snipe I have not noticed any decline in wintering numbers in any parts of the country I'm familiar with(and the links mentioned here back that up). Which is why I don't think they'll be taken off the shooting list anytime soon. Breeding numbers might be down a bit but there is growing populations now on many of BNM cut-away bogs in the midlands and West. If these places don't get sterilized under wind farms then they will act as important refugees for the species if habitat loss elsewhere intensifies

shotie

Birdnuts wrote: »

The sad thing is that a lot of farmers would be happy to leave these wilder bits alone if it wasn't for the pressure they are under from muppets in the Dept of Agriculture forcing farmers to destroy any bit of natural cover on their land to claim their full Single farm payment grants. The even have a whole section in the Dept that uses satellite imagery to spy on farmers and make sure they clear any bit of scrub etc.they might have in a field corner.

PS: On the subject of snipe I have not noticed any decline in wintering numbers in any parts of the country I'm familiar with(and the links mentioned here back that up). Which is why I don't think they'll be taken off the shooting list anytime soon. Breeding numbers might be down a bit but there is growing populations now on many of BNM cut-away bogs in the midlands and West. If these places don't get sterilized under wind farms then they will act as important refugees for the species if habitat loss elsewhere intensifies[/QUOTE

thats very true too

i have always seen plenty numbers of snipe. not once have i gone out and not put up pockets of snipe here and there .i couldnt see them took off the list either the same goes for woodcock another wintering bird good numbers around come middle of november and yet the same is been said for them .

blackpearl

was in a 20 acre field of spuds yesterday their was up on a hundred snipe in it every where we went their was snipe must have just arrived in from Europe best number of snipe I have seen in a few years, we have to fight this and not let Europe tell us what we can shoot and what we can not.