good views of woodcock: your experiences (2 Viewers)

[earlytorise]

Do share any memorable experiences of having good views of woodcock (Eurasian or any of the other species).

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I actually asked for advice on this forum, quite a while ago, on how to get good views of a woodcock in the UK. The only views I had managed were from a trip to Spurn (East Yorkshire) in the autumn, when every now and then a woodcock would suddenly fly out and land further away. I don't count those views as tickable.

The people I knew back in Britain told me that one was unlikely to get better views than that.

I've been staying in Hong Kong for a little over two years now. This week I had the amazing fortune of looking at a Eurasian Woodcock that was feeding beside an artifical drainage channel! A photo is included here.

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

Best ever U.K. view, one walked out onto the road near Leighton Moss one spring.

 

[Xenospiza]

They can be easy to see after a fall or when snow forces them out of their hiding places. I saw one feeding in a spring a few years back, when we had had a near-unprecedented snowfall. I did not watch it for long as I did not want to disturb it.
My first Woodcock ever was in our tiny back garden, when I wondered why I had never seen that dead plant before... that turned into a pretty good view!

 

[gerald762]

The best view that I had, 30 + years ago, was one that I shot!!! Probably not the answer you were looking for! I stopped game bird shooting years ago.

 

[davewalters]

15 or so around 1990 frantically feeding on the snow covered verges around the Wolferton triangle in Norfolk. They literally wouldn't stop feeding even if you parked directly at the side of them. Probably had tickable Golden Pheasant as well, we usually did back then.
also one crashed into me & Gilly coming in off the sea at Flamborough when there was a Pallid Swift there, 97?

 

[angusmcoatup]

I had a cracking view of one from a few feet away in a London Park on the first morning of a thaw. I was the first one in after the Parkie so beat the dog walkers.

 

[Farnboro John]

It's probably the commonest bird I still don't have a decent photo of, my best is a fuzzy shot of one in the middle of the road above Loch Mudle on Ardnamurchan while I was night driving for Wildcat years ago. I have met quite a lot of wildlife photographers who have found them feeding on verges in the Grampians and are keen to show me their frame-fillers taken out of the car window.....

John

 

[Pinewood]

Hello,

I had a view of an American woodcock outside my Manhattan window, which shocked me. They turn up in Central Park but they do a good job of hiding among the leaf litter and fallen branches. In season, they appear in Bryant Park, a small park and even go down the steps to a tube station, which confuses them.

Stay safe,
Arthur

 

[angusmcoatup]

I had a cracking view of one from a few feet away in a London Park on the first morning of a thaw. I was the first one in after the Parkie so beat the dog walkers.

I should add that they seem to be found fairly often dead or stunned around the City of London after hitting the glass of the taller buildings.

 

[William Lewis]

I had one roughly 2 feet away from me that I had to free from a dilapidated chicken run a couple of years back near home. Much more common than their sightings suggest. Saw a lot walking accross scolt head island off brancaster too, must have flushed 10 of them in the way to the old monitoring house.

 

[Richard D]

Only ever had one not in flight from being flushed. Numbers are sadly on the decline locally though.

If anyone has time: Woodcock Survey

 

[William Lewis]

Only ever had one not in flight from being flushed. Numbers are sadly on the decline locally though.

If anyone has time: Woodcock Survey

Think I might need a thermal camera to make a worth while stab at that one!

 

[edenwatcher]

As John mentioned they can be found in Scottish glens in the summer during the day.
Thermal imager is a game changer however. Bird below located less than 100m from home in a gorse filled ditch - no chance without the imager.

Rob

 

[JWN Andrewes]

I remember seeing them by crouching low and scanning under the thicket behind the visitor center at Titchwell, don't know if that still works.
I've seen one pottering about up at Doi Inthanon in Thailand, and even with the fierce competition at the time it managed to command my attention for a spell!
The attached is the first I've found by thermal imager, down near Fenn's Moss south of Wrexham. I intend it to be the first of many!

 

[jurek]

I never seen such a weakened Woodcock in freezing weather.

But we were driving at night once, and a Woodcock was walking on the road. It flew a little along the road and made lots of effort to be run over.

 

[Andy Lakin]

My most bizarre encounter was seeing one on a gravel drive whilst stopped at traffic lights in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. I had my best flight views recently at dusk when a couple of birds appeared to be chasing each other.

 

[DMW]

During the winter, it's quite easy to get good views at night where I live - a sweep of a favoured field with a torch usually reveals a few.

 

[Farnboro John]

My most bizarre encounter was seeing one on a gravel drive whilst stopped at traffic lights in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. I had my best flight views recently at dusk when a couple of birds appeared to be chasing each other.

Presumably roding. Starting early, must be the warm weather!

John

 

[Val35]

My best views were in Corsica, in early may 2018, I was driving back home at night and it was just standing in the middle of the road, I got close to it and took this (bad) phone pic...I flushed it after though because people drive so fast on those roads at night, I'm pretty sure it would have ended under the wheels of a car...

 

[jurek]

I seen some feeding (not just roding) woodcocks at night when looking for mammals. They appear to be nocturnal like owls, they fly after sunset presumably to separate feeding places, and they often land on paths and roads and walk around on roads picking insects from the surface. So a woodcock on a road at night s not unusual, but hard to see one as well as yours!