2018

Andrew Hoodless and Chris Heward recently visited one of our regular field sites on Saturday night, where we are conducting a long-term ‘mark-and-recapture’ study of woodcock. They both saw a few birds – but nowhere near the mid-winter densities we might expect for this site.

Could this be the first sign of migration from our satellite-tagged woodcock?

Although the first migrant woodcock are now appearing in the UK, there’s many more that have yet to arrive. As our satellite-tagged birds show, there are some woodcock that have still yet to begin their autumn migrations.

As summer turns to autumn, the woodcock’s annual timetable shifts its focus from breeding, which is now complete, to migration. But before the birds can get on their way, there is one important event to consider: moult.

I tagged Phynodderee on the Isle of Man in March 2017 and, that spring, she migrated to a breeding site in Northern Russia. 

Chris Heward provides a location update from our tagged birds, most of whom have faithfully returned to their breeding sites.

Chris Heward discusses the journey of Holkham, our only ‘new’ woodcock this year.

We are appealing for volunteers to take part in the GWCT/BTO  annual woodcock counts. We are looking for people willing to perform dusk surveys, in May and June, to count displaying woodcock.

Chris Heward discusses the importance of understanding when and how migrant woodcock move between their wintering grounds in the British Isles and their breeding sites elsewhere.