Woodcock Watch Blog

If you’ve taken part in the GWCT/BTO ‘annual’ woodcock surveys before, please consider getting involved again this spring.

Three of the satellite-tagged woodcock, tracked as part of the GWCT’s Woodcock Watch project, have sent updates over the past few weeks. 

Although we are no longer tagging new woodcock as part of the Woodcock Watch project, some of the existing tagged birds continue to transmit. One such woodcock is Fonthill Abbie II who was caught in Wiltshire in 2016.

The woodcock breeding season will now be well underway. Male woodcock will be roding all across the country and most females will be incubating. Some females will already have chicks, especially given the relatively mild start to the spring. Normally, by mid-April, we are busy with spring fieldwork but under current coronavirus restrictions, none of our usual work can continue.

Nellie III has made a welcome return to the Woodcock Watch map with a series of new transmissions.

Members of the GWCT Woodcock Watch team have published an article in the May edition of British Birds.