Dazzle and net … Woodcock ringing
I have had fleeting glimpses of Woodcock on the land here (scared off as I’ve clomped by, rising from the ground and taking a somewhat erratic looking zig-zag flight path through the trees) and also caught some night footage of them in the woods on camera trap. But I was really pleased when Arfon Williams reached out and asked me if he could visit Cefn Garthenor to find and ring some Woodcock this evening. I agreed by return of text message and was delighted that he reported back that he had managed to ring three birds (as well as see a polecat during his nocturnal visit … he is clearly a much better observer of wildlife than me!).
Arfon may need to correct me on some of what follows, but hopefully I’ve got things right. Woodcock are short-legged wading birds which tend to live in woods and heaths and are sometimes known as the woodland Snipe (although one friend who saw one of Arfon's pictures last night thought we had discovered the Welsh Kiwi!). They are well camouflaged and keep out of site in dense undergrowth. Most breeding pairs here in Ceredigion** will be UK residents, but others join us from Finland and Russian to over winter [** CORRECTION from Arfon ... sadly he tells me that it is very unlikely that they breed in Ceredigion and our birds are probably winter visitors from Northern Europe and Russia] Woodcock are secretive and nocturnal, so not often seen. This means that we actually know very little about them relative to other species. Catching, measuring weight, beak length and wing size, and then ringing them prior to a safe release a few minutes later allows ornithologists to gather valuable information. If lucky, a ringer might capture one which has already been ringed (rung? surely not wrung!), giving further data on their behaviour and travel patterns. As a result, we now know, for example, that Woodcock have quite high levels of winter site fidelity, meaning they often return to exactly the same field year after year.
How to catch them? Dazzle and net … approaching with a bright torch means that they can’t see you, which enables you to net them. But, for obvious reasons, not to be tried without instruction and appropriate training. And, to be clear, to ring any bird you must be granted a permit by the British Trust for Ornithology, or be supervised by a registered ringing instructor.
The pictures show the three birds that Arfon managed to catch, gather data on and ring before releasing. His tally for this winter is now over 100. I very much hope that what we are doing (or possibly, more importantly, not doing) here at Cefn Garthenor will make it a great habitat for growing numbers of Woodcock.
Diolch, Arfon. To go out night after cold winter night to help build our understanding of this little brown bird is truly fabulous.
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