Wensum appears to be the first of our satellite-tagged woodcock to complete the annual autumn migration. Wensum is currently in Germany, just south of Hamburg, nearly one and a half thousand kilometres from her breeding site in Finland.

Wensum was last recorded in Finland on the 19th October. She had arrived in Germany by the 3rd November. Unfortunately we have not received any intervening data from Wensum whilst en route but this is typical of the autumn migration.

Data transmission often slows down in late summer and early autumn, coinciding with the birds’ annual moult, and by the time the tags have had chance to recharge we have often missed part of the autumn migration. Nevertheless, it is fantastic to see Wensum alive and assumedly well in a familiar site in Germany.

Wensum is one of our most interesting birds. We have tracked her since she was first caught in March 2013. In this time, she has returned to exactly the same breeding site in Finland for three successive summers.

She has spent both winters (2013/14 and 2014/15) at the same site in northern Germany. When we first caught her, however, it was in Norfolk – at a site she has never returned to since.

Given her loyalty to her wintering site in Germany, we now tend to think of Wensum as German/Finnish bird. When she was caught in 2013 it was during a particularly cold spell. It seems likely that hard frosts in Wensum’s usual German wintering site had pushed her further West in search of better feeding.

This was how she found herself in Norfolk in March 2013 when we bumped into her. Wensum has never returned to Norfolk because she has not had to – the last two years were sufficiently mild for her to stay in Germany for the whole winter.

So now the question that remains is what will this winter bring? Will it be mild enough for Wensum to stick it out in her favourite German home or will we be welcoming her back to the British Isles for the first time since 2013?

Please help our UK woodcock population