If you’re visiting the Dartington estate, keep an eye out for woodcocks, which can be seen by the eagle-eyed watcher at this time of year.
They are a broad-bodied wading bird with short legs and a long straight tapering bill. They are mainly nocturnal birds, spending most of the day in the dense cover in the woodland.
Woodcocks are a migratory bird which fly in from Russia and Scandinavia and spends the winter in the UK.
Whilst working in North Woods on the estate creating paths between dormice boxes, we came across several of these birds in the undergrowth.
They are very well camouflaged in the scrub areas in the woodland. The woodcocks only fly out once you are very close. Occasionally they can make you jump and take you by surprise when they take off from the undergrowth right in front of you.
The population of these birds has been declining in recent times. This is mainly due to the lack of habitat as conifer plantations become too mature, providing less open areas for breeding.
It’s therefore really important for us to to create glades and open areas for ground nesting birds – and in the process create areas of rich woodland ground flora species like wood anemone.
Mike
