AT dusk, perhaps you’ve marvelled as the males fly theatrically over the woodland canopy, performing their strange and alluring whistle interspersed with a series of grunts.
Between late February and July, woodcock have their breeding season, when the ‘roding’ flight is undertaken to attract the ladies. Last year, a record number of volunteers set out to record these sightings across the UK and, sadly for our red-listed resident woodcock population, the results, just out, are mixed.
In northern Scotland, site of the core stronghold, numbers are down a shocking 49% over the past decade. However, across the whole of the UK, the decline is a healthier 8%, balanced by small increases in England and Wales and the fact that Northern Ireland was surveyed for the first time.
The GWCT’s and BTO’s Breeding Woodcock Survey takes place every 10 years—the first was held in 2003—and, last year, 1,084 volunteers took part, recording 51,687 males at more than 1,200 sites (twice as many as in 2013).
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