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Eurasian Woodcock
by Mike Tarrant.
During the Christmas period, I was fortunate to have two Eurasian Woodcocks
present in my garden at Saltfleetby for at least two days. They spent
most of the daylight hours concealed in the leaf litter under my large
hawthorn hedge. Towards dusk, they would venture out on to the pasture
to commence feeding.
They were very successful in their probing and from what I could observe
fifty metres away, their favourite prey seemed to be earthworms, the
largest of which I saw extracted was some nine inches in length. They
were constantly alert and the slightest alarm call from other birds
would see them scurrying back to the shelter of the hedge.
When feeding, they constantly bounce up and down on their haunches similiar
in manner to Jack Snipe. I can only imagine that this behaviour is a
form of camouflage, but it would seem to be totally ineffective out
in the pasture - on the contrary, it served only to attract my attention.
Does anyone have a suitable explanation as to why the species should
behave like this?
Mike Tarrant.
Eurasian Woodcock at Saltfleetby, Lincolnshire - December 2001 by © Mike
Tarrant
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