A migratory snipe widely distributed across Eurasia, from the Azores and Iceland to Chukotka, and from e.g. France to the Arctic tundra. There are two subspecies in Europe: faeroensis breeds in Iceland, Faeroes, Orkney and Shetland and winters in the British Isles; gallinago across the rest of the range, wintering in W and S Europe, the Mediterranean basin and sub-Saharan Africa (and furtherE in the Middle East and Asia).