Why aren't we seeing much new location data?

Many woodcock sponsors have noticed a recent lack of activity from the tagged birds, and would be forgiven for thinking that there is a problem with the Woodcock Watch website. We can assure that this is not the case; it’s simply that no data is being transmitted at present.

We currently believe that the problem relates to the tags’ batteries. The tags are solar-powered and need to be recharged by the sun. To fully recharge a battery from flat will take about 4 hours of bright sunlight. It seems that the tags are not receiving this. Day length is short and sunlight intensity low in the northern locations where the birds have spent the autumn. Light intensity on a sunny winter’s day is only one ninth of that experienced on a day in June. On top of this, the woodcock’s nocturnal, secretive nature means that it spends most of the day hidden beneath dense vegetation. This does not mean the tags are permanently out of action though; assuming that some of the birds are still alive, their tags will begin to transmit again as soon as they recharge. This point has been proven by Olwen, who has transmitted good-quality data this week despite having been out of touch for over two months. He has now reappeared in Lincolnshire, where he is alive and well, having made his way from Western Russia.

Olwen's journey

It’s important to remember that this research is not tried and tested; this is new technology which has not been trialled on woodcock. Most current satellite tagging studies performed in the UK relate to diurnal summer visitors migrating between Britain and Africa. This is a far cry from the nocturnal woodcock which is migrating north to Russia and Scandinavia. Because this is such a new area of research there will undoubtedly be surprises and unforeseen problems. Whilst this may seem a disappointment, we must keep in mind the quality of the revelatory spring data we have gathered using these tags which more than make up for the problems we experience in autumn.

Please help us continue our woodcock research

Woodcock - working to provide the shooting community with more facts

by Andrew Hoodless, Head of Wetland Research

Following Katrina Candy's piece in The Scotsman (Watch the birdie and help to save woodcocks - 9th December 2014) we'd like to take this opportunity to discuss the work we're doing to help understand the impact of shooting on woodcock populations.

We believe that the woodcock population in Europe as a whole is stable and numbers of birds wintering here have been stable for the last 20 years. Hence, we believe that the shooting of winter migrants is currently sustainable.

We are concerned about declines in our resident breeding population. While we think that these are likely to be driven primarily by other factors, such as reduced woodland management, increasing deer numbers, increased predation and changing climate, we cannot rule out shooting as a contributory factor.

We therefore advise landowners with breeding woodcock to delay shooting until migrant birds have arrived in good numbers, typically after the November full moon, and to give careful consideration to the numbers they shoot.

We currently have a PhD student investigating patterns of decline in our breeding woodcock and the possible causes. As part of the outputs of our programme of research on woodcock migration, we aim to provide the shooting community with better facts to enable them to make informed decisions. We are working on understanding the impact of shooting on woodcock populations, with a view to producing guidelines on the levels and circumstances where shooting is sustainable.

We plan to analyze our data sets to look for an impact of shooting (or not) and submit the evidence for peer review. But this has not happened yet!

To find out more about our woodcock research please click here >

Monkey III first woodcock to return to UK

Monkey III is now back in the UK making him/her our first to return this winter. His/her current location is within 5 km of the location we caught and tagged him/her in March this year.

Monkey III was expected to be the first bird back – (s)he was the closest of our birds to Britain since arriving in the Netherlands on 11th November. Now (s)he has made the final hop across the North Sea and taken up a familiar wintering site in Hampshire.

His/her outward journey in spring, from Hampshire to Western Russia, saw him/her take a route that included a brief stop-over in Lincolnshire. It looks as though Monkey III did not make this stop on his/her return journey but we cannot be certain of this. (S)he may have called in briefly without pausing long enough for his/her tag to transmit from Lincolnshire.

Finally, to explain the question of Monkey III’s gender: sex in woodcock is determined by bill length. Males, on average, have shorter bills than females though there is an intermediate grey area where the ranges overlap. With a bill of 72mm, Monkey III fell within this region and so, unlike the majority of our other tagged birds, we cannot be certain of his/her sex.

Please help us continue our woodcock research

Latest November location updates - Amy, Monkey III, Nastasia & Rocky

Nearly half-way through November and several of our tagged woodcock are getting closer to returning to the UK including Monkey III, who had been silent for three months until we received an update on 11th November:

Monkey III is currently in the Netherlands after leaving Russia

Amy has flown through Belarus on her way back from Russia and is in Lithuania

Nastasia has passed through Latvia on her return and is now in Lithuania

Rocky is in Germany having stopped off in Poland on the journey back from Russia

Please help us continue our woodcock research

In order to find out more about these elusive birds we need to monitor more of them. Please help us tag more woodcock and continue our research. Click here to donate >

The myths of migration

The goldcrest takes the title of Europe’s smallest bird; and weighing just six grams (that’s the same as a twenty-pence piece), it is around half the weight of a blue tit. They are one of many British species that have both a resident breeding population living here all year round, and a migratory population that visits us from Scandinavia, Russia and Poland where typical winter temperatures would prove fatal.

Though usually inconspicuous during the breeding season, they are often seen in autumn when newly-arrived migrants are busily feeding to recoup from their long journey and prepare for the winter ahead.

The fact that such a tiny creature can make the perilous flight across Europe and the North Sea once seemed so implausible that some early thinkers concluded that they must be aided in their feat.  The goldcrest’s arrival more-or-less coincides with that of another autumn migrant, the woodcock, and it was believed by some that goldcrests crossed the sea hitching a lift on the woodcocks’ back.

According to legend, this gave rise to the goldcrest’s traditional folk name of ‘Woodcock Pilot’.
The tale of the woodcock pilot is not the only myth associated with migration and there are a number that centre on the woodcock itself. Most widely-known is that of the apocryphal ‘Woodcock Moon’ that suggests woodcock time their migration to coincide with November’s full moon, using its light to help them navigate. This seems bound to an earlier, more farfetched myth that proposed that woodcock flew from the moon where they had purportedly spent the summer.

In truth, it seems unlikely that woodcock use the light of the moon to migrate – as a nocturnal species their eyes are well-adapted to low-light levels. The most obvious cues for migration are the weather conditions and woodcock appear to favour sea-crossings on nights that are dry and cloudless with a favourable tail-wind. It is probably the case that on these clear nights the moon appears at its brightest and so woodcock and the November moon have become interwoven in country lore.

There is another, more plausible tale as to how the goldcrest became known as the woodcock pilot. This suggests the goldcrest is a ‘pilot’ in the alternative sense of the word; a preliminary guide which tests the water before the arrival of the woodcock. It’s true that that appearance of the goldcrest commonly precedes that of the woodcock and I mention this as I have seen a number of goldcrests feeding in the garden this week.  Perhaps this suggests the woodcock will soon be on their way?

For the next few weeks all eyes will be on the Woodcock Watch website as we anticipate the welcome return of our winter visitors.

Support our Woodcock Watch project

Please help us tag and monitor more woodcock so we can learn even more about these fascinating birds. You can donate online through JustGiving >

Flurry of activity as woodcock begin their return

A number of our tagged woodcock have now started their journeys back to the UK and we have received a flurry of location updates:

Amy is now in Belarus having left Russia

James is currently in Estonia having now left Russia

Lanyon has reached Poland after leaving Russia

Rocky has made it to Germany after leaving Russia

Please help us tag more woodcock

It costs £3,500 to tag and monitor a single woodcock on its epic journey for one year. Please support our project here - no donation is too small.

Residents and Migrants

Visitors to the Woodcock Watch website will notice that there are three active tags already in the UK; two in Western Scotland and one in County Durham. These tagged woodcock never left the UK last spring.  The British woodcock population comprises of both resident and migratory birds. In a typical winter we would predict around 10% of woodcock in the UK are home-bred, whilst the other 90% are visitors from Northern Europe and Russia. Physically, there is nothing that clearly distinguishes a migrant from a resident and there is always the chance that we will tag resident birds by mistake. In 2014, spring arrived early, and many of the migrant birds began to leave earlier than expected, which increased the likelihood of us tagging a resident.

Whilst not our primary objective, we have been happy to receive data from the three residents which have provided an interesting contrast to their migratory counterparts. Jack and Charlie were both tagged on Islay in March. Jack turned out to be a migrant and moved to Western Russia; he has covered a distance of 2875 km in the seven months since we caught him. Charlie, on the other hand, stayed to spend the summer on Islay and has covered a mere 240 km by comparison.

Charlie has covered just 240km since March

As well as studying woodcock migration, the GWCT also conducts research into the small percentage of birds that stay in Britain all year round. With the BTO, we have co-ordinated national surveys of breeding woodcock to gauge the size of the British population and how it is changing. Whilst numbers of woodcock across Europe as a whole appear to remain healthy, the evidence indicates that our resident population is undergoing declines across much of the country.

The advice to shooters who wish to minimise their impact on our resident birds, is to refrain from shooting woodcock at least until the majority of the migrants have arrived. The influxes of European birds then far outnumber our residents, and reduce the chances of native birds being shot.

Autumn Progress

In early October the first few migrant woodcock begin to arrive.  The vast majority, however, will not be here until November or even later; in an average year birds are still arriving through December. Last week I heard the first reports of migrants seen on the east coast but our satellite-tagged birds are showing little in the way of migratory behaviour.

The GWCT’s Woodcock Watch project tracks the migrations of British wintering woodcock across Europe; over the last three years the project has followed the fates of thirty-nine individuals using state of the art tracking technology.

In February and March, woodcock are caught and fitted with lightweight tags which are able to provide a near real-time relay of their outward spring migration. The devices are equipped with tiny solar-panels, and providing they receive enough sunlight, they should remain charged to track their returning journeys in the autumn and in some cases, in subsequent years. In 2014, we tracked twenty-five woodcock; seventeen of which were caught this spring and eight of which were tagged in previous years but whose transmitters were still active. All but one tag provided useable data and twenty of our birds completed a spring migration.

Eleven of these migrated to breeding sites in Western Russia. There were three woodcock that chose relatively southern locations in the area west of Moscow and east of the Belarussian border, whilst another eight settled in the more northerly region east of Finland. One of these birds, James, was amongst the most northerly breeders Woodcock Watch has tracked, visiting a site close to Arkhangelsk on Russia’s White Sea. Other tagged woodcock this year headed for Finland, Latvia and Norway.

The birds we have been able to track in multiple years have demonstrated that woodcock remain loyal to the same breeding site year on year. Rebecca, in particular, has been a striking case in point and has returned annually to the same wood in Russia since being tagged in February 2012. In just the three years we have monitored her, she has covered a total distance of 15,000 km from Wales to Russia and back two and a half times. We have yet to conclusively prove it, but we believe that birds like Rebecca are returning to breed at sites close to where they hatched as chicks; research suggests this to be so in most other wading bird species.

Nastasia

We are still receiving data from many of the tagged woodcock and transmissions have remained encouragingly frequent this year, but so far most are only showing small scale movements on the summering grounds. Instinctively, the woodcock will be anticipating the long flight ahead of them and are probably busy trying to find sufficient food to reach an optimum physical condition.

The only bird that appears to have begun her autumn migration is Nastasia. She was tagged in County Cork, Ireland, in March 2014. During the first two weeks of April she made her way to Western Russia via Belgium, Germany and Poland, ultimately settling in a site not far from St. Petersburg. Here she remained until early October. On the 18th October her tag sent fresh data showing her to be in Lativa, having flown the first 600 km of her westward migration.

It remains to be seen when the rest of the birds will depart. The weather in Finland and Western Russia is still relatively mild, but this appears to be changing. If the temperature continues to drop, we would expect this to prompt migration in those woodcock that have yet to leave. Typically, the average woodcock migration consists of a long, sustained flight over a relatively short time period, followed by a break of a week to ten days’ rest before the next long flight. Migrating in stages keeps the birds ahead of the oncoming cold weather and gives them an opportunity to feed and recover en route. This could mean it is another month or more before they are back in the UK and Ireland.

Support our research - sponsor a woodcock

A small sponsorship of £36 covers the cost of downloading location data each month, helping us to monitor a bird’s location throughout the year. Each bird provides more vital data to help our drive to conserve the woodcock in the UK. Sponsor a woodcock >

Nastasia first to head home

New data received on 18th October shows Nastasia to be the first of our tagged woodcock to begin the journey back. Having left Ireland in March, Nastasia flew to a site near St Petersburg in Russia and is now in Latvia:

Follow Nastasia's journey online >

Woodcock sponsorship - a truly unique Christmas gift

Christmas is fast approaching and like me, you probably have people in your life who are always difficult to buy for. That's where we can help. A woodcock sponsorship is the perfect gift for loved ones of any age and is truly unique.

Our woodcock sponsorship gift pack contains everything needed to sponsor one of these mysterious birds and sponsors can follow their individually satellite tagged bird in ‘real time’ on the Woodcock Watch website as they fly vast distances.

What's included in a gift sponsorship pack

• Woodcock passport
• Certificate confirming sponsorship information
• Fantastic sheet of woodcock stickers
• Woodcock fact sheet
• Woodcock pin badge

How each gift sponsorship helps our woodcock project

A small sponsorship of £36 covers the cost of downloading location data each month, helping us to monitor a bird’s location throughout the year. Each bird provides more vital data to help our drive to conserve the woodcock in the UK.

Order your woodcock gift sponsorship online

You can order your woodcock gift sponsorship from our online shop or from our Woodcock Watch website.

Great new woodcock gifts now available

Woodcock silk tie

Christmas is fast approaching and we have some great gifts available for woodcock enthusiasts.

Our new navy silk tie is beautifully made and a bargain at just £24.95.

View woodcock tie >

Pewter woodcock pin badge

Also new in stock is this attractive woodcock pin badge with polished pewter finish.

Priced at just £5.50 you can order your pewter woodcock badge here.

We also have a limited number of 'Flushed Woodcock' prints available. Signed by renowned sporting and wildlife artist Owen Williams they are just £45.00.

View woodcock print >

Limited edition 'Flushed Woodcock' print

Free woodcock sponsorship for schools

What aspects of nature fascinated you as a child? Imagine following the journey of a bird as it makes its way from the UK or Ireland, across Europe, perhaps as far afield as western Russia.

We are offering free woodcock sponsorship to any school so that their pupils can share in this fascinating experience, tracking a woodcock as it migrates across Europe and back again, sometimes even to the very same field.

The free school woodcock pack includes a certificate of sponsorship, factsheets, a woodcock passport and stickers and regular email updates about the progress of the school’s chosen woodcock.

Teachers are also able to access a series of lesson plans, providing them with the guidance to make the best use of our resources about the migration of Woodcock across Europe, making it easier for teachers to utilise those resources in a way that meets the demands of the National Curriculum

Interactive map showing the journeys taken by our tagged woodcock

These resources, produced with the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation Education Trust, help students to learn about the woodcock's life-cycle, habitat and migration routes and encourages students to follow individual satellite-tagged birds as they fly through the countries of Europe.

Do you have any children or grandchildren whose school may be interested in this work? If you are or know a teacher keen to bring the story of this wonderful bird into the classroom, please ask the school to get in touch with the Trust and we will take care of the rest.

Register your school

Registering for a free woodcock pack is simple. All you have to do to register your school to receive a FREE woodcock sponsorship kit is email jswyer@gwct.org.uk and we will contact you to discuss your free pack.

Please note this is only available to direct applications from schools.

First Woodcock Watch location updates for September

We've received our first location updates for September from a number of our tagged woodcock.

Amy, Knepp, Lanyon, Remy, Rocky, Smithy, St Brendan and Wensum have all sent data.

In St Brendan's case it is the first update we have received since 10th June. Still in Latvia, St Brendan has covered over 2,300km since leaving Ireland at the end of March.

 

Woodcock Watch Location Data

 

Click here to view location data for each of our tagged woodcock.

 

Sponsor a woodcock for just £3 a month

Don’t miss this rare chance to get involved in important scientific research by sponsoring a satellite tracked woodcock.

For just £3 a month, you can follow your own bird’s location as it travels up to 10,000 kilometres every year, whilst scientists from the Game & Wildlife Trust build a unique picture of the woodcock’s migratory habits.

Each sponsor helps to pay for the satellite tracking, which has seen birds tagged in the British Isles travel to breeding grounds in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, including a 7,000 kilometre journey to Siberia. Without the support of sponsorship, we would not have known about these remarkable migrations or the details of stop-over locations that are vital to each journey.

Sponsor a woodcock - choose your bird >


We have been able to tag a further 11 birds in recent months, in seven English counties, plus Wales, Scotland, and Ireland and these are now available for sponsorship.

From as little as £3 a month, you can enjoy the pleasure of sponsoring one of these remarkable woodcock and supporting our research. In addition to being able to track your bird online, you will receive a sponsorship pack including a certificate, factsheet and your own woodcock lapel pin.

Sponsor a woodcock - choose your bird >

Sponsoring your woodcock is quick and easy

All you need to do is click here and select the bird you would like to sponsor, or call us on 01425 652381. You will not only be supporting ground-breaking research, but also enjoy an appreciation for the British countryside and the chance to enjoy the remarkable achievements of these elusive birds.
What other sponsors say

“The study has been a revelation in the distances covered by this remarkable bird”
- Kevin Appleton

“My interest in these lovely birds is general, i.e. their migratory patterns, our resident birds and their habits and habitat. I think that it behoves us to know as much as we can about any quarry species”
– David Houston

“I think the groundbreaking work you are doing is fascinating - keep up the good work”
– William McCabe

Sponsor a woodcock - choose your bird >

Latest Woodcock Watch location updates

We're still receiving reliable and regular updates from the majority of our tagged woodcock.

We're pleased to have heard from James this week for the first time since the middle of June. He's currently moving north through western Russia.

The chart below shows the current location data for each woodcock involved in the project.

Four woodcock have now passed the 4,000km mark

Four of the woodcock taking part in our Woodcock Watch project have now covered over 4,000km on their journeys.

 

Amy, BFC, Lanyon and Olwen have all travelled furthest so far with James and Smithy not far behind.

 

Click here to view the latest location data for all woodcock.

 

Sponsor a Woodcock for just £3

 

Would you like to support our Woodcock Watch project? For just £3 a month you can sponsor any of our birds and help us track them on their epic journeys.

 

Find out more >

 

 

 



Latest Woodcock Watch tweets

Guest Blog: Smithy's progress

Jerry Barnes

Jerry Barnes, Chairman of the Bristol and North Somerset branch of the GWCT and Chair of the Landed Estates group at accountancy and investment management group Smith & Williamson, discusses the progress of Smithy – one of the latest birds to join the exciting Woodcock Watch project.

After a slow and on my part nervous start, I am beginning to feel like Smithy is one of my sons on a gap year before university and I can only get second hand information about him via his Facebook page. I want to know more than just where he is!

From watching Smithy being captured and tagged on land at my shoot in North Somerset on the 3rd March to the last recorded sighting of him on the 25th June, he has travelled over 3,500 km from his feeding grounds near Bristol to Tamogsky district of North East Russia. And what an adventure he appears to have had along the way.

 

Smithy

First up was a non-stop flight to somewhere near Krakow in Poland. He then made a few short stops in Western Poland before embarking on another non-stop flight to Belarus, close to the Russian border – probably for a few days of much-needed rest and relaxation! Smithy seems to have settled into his new life in Russia with three extended stays in different territories. The first lasting a couple of weeks was near Uglch in the Volga Valley, the second near to the River Sukhona for around a month and finally, his current location near Sergiyevskaya where he has been for the last three weeks.

It would be interesting to hear Dr Andrew Hoodless’ views on why he hasn’t set up home for his roding rituals in any one particular place.

I’ve noticed that many of the other woodcock have remained static for quite some time. I would like to think this is because they’re females and are staying with their nests during daylight and only moving in darkness, which is why there have been no new sightings.  I do hope so.

My uneducated conclusion from this personal research is that Smithy is clearly Russian, he is young, very fit and energetic. He also likes river valleys (salmon preferred) and has a fondness for motorways!  Just like with my gap year son, I have so many questions that for now, will remain unanswered!

I am looking forward to hearing Dr Hoodless speak at the CLA Game Fair on Friday, 18 July at 3pm in the GWCT’s tent. I have so many questions!  Smith & Williamson, which sponsors Smithy, will be hosting a drinks reception earlier at 2pm, at the same venue, so if anyone would like to swap woodcock stories, they are very welcome to come along. I look forward to meeting you.

First woodcock location updates for June

We've received our first woodcock location updates for June. You can see the current location for each bird on the map below whilst the chart displays more detailed journey data.

Clear evidence of breeding site fidelity in woodcock

I know we’re constantly talking about site fidelity – but it’s interesting especially when demonstrated so clearly as it is in the maps below (click to enlarge them). It’s obvious that these birds repeatedly return to the same areas to breed – which has conservation implications for the areas where the largest concentrations reside.

As for the question as to why Crugith has not been so faithful– we think she must’ve picked up some sort of injury, disease or parasite that has prevented her from reaching the desired level of fitness. There are no breeding birds in Cornwall so it is impossible that she is breeding there – she’s just sitting out the summer because she could not attain the condition required to return to Siberia. She is still alive as her movement appears to be normal, but there must be some underlying health issue.

It's worth noting that of the birds featured in the maps below, Remy, Amy, Rebecca, Lanyon, Wensum are all females. St. Brendan and Olwen are both of an unknown sex so could also be females. So the site fidelity we are seeing is definitely true of females but we don’t have any data for males – at least not in 2014. Last year, however, we had Monkey - a male who travelled to exactly the same site in 2013 as he did in 2012.

Amy

St. Brendan

Crugith

Lanyon

Olwen

Remy

Wensum

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GWCT woodcock work featured in new BTO magazine

Our very own Chris Heward has contributed to a piece in the latest issue of the BTO's Volunteer magazine regarding the preliminary results of the 2013 woodcock survey.

The survey is a joint GWCT and BTO effort and with the help of over 800 volunteers, over 800 randomly selected sites were surveyed in 2013.

Read the article online (on page 22) >

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New chart shows latest Woodcock Watch data at a glance

Our woodcock are continuing their journeys across Europe and we've just received location updates for each of them.

The new chart below shows details for each bird and updates automatically on our website and blog as soon as we enter new data:

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Rebecca returns to the same patch of forest three years running

Rebecca is the only bird that we have followed through the entire duration of the Woodcock Watch project. Tagged in spring 2012, we have received good-quality data from Rebecca each summer since.

The maps below show just how faithful Rebecca is to a single breeding site. Each year she visits the same forest in Somensk Oblast, Western Russia.

Rebecca was a juvenile when caught in 2012, so we know she hatched in 2011. This means she will be celebrating her third birthday this summer. How many more times will she make this impressive 1,500 mile journey?

Track Rebecca's journey online >

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Busy Easter period sees flurry of woodcock activity

Our woodcock were very active over the Easter period with many of them on the move across Europe.

 

 

Location updates

 

Amy - in western Russia after leaving Ireland and stopping over in Holland, Poland and Belarus.

 

BFC - has made it to Russia after leaving Wales and stopping in Lithuania and Latvia.

 

Jack - following stops in Denmark and Estonia, Jack has arrived in Russia after leaving Scotland.

 

James - left Wiltshire and has travelled north east through Poland and Latvia to reach Russia.

 

Knepp - currently in Finland after leaving Sussex and arriving via Germany and Estonia.

 

Lanyon - has flown into Russia from Cornwall after stopping off in Belarus.

 

Olwen - currently in north west Russia after stopping in Denmark and Latvia.

 

Rebecca - flew south east from Wales to Slovakia and then north east into Russia.

 

Remy - left Scotland for Denmark and now currently in Latvia.

 

Rocky - has flown from Cornwall to Russia via Germany and Poland.

 

Smithy - left Bristol for Poland before flying north east to Russia via Belarus.

 

St Brendan - flew east from Ireland to Poland and has since moved north east to Latvia.

 

Wensum - having never returned to the UK, Wensum has revisited Finland from Germany.

 

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You can now donate with JustGiving

We know many people prefer to donate online using a familiar and user-friendly service such as JustGiving.

That's why we've set up a JustGiving page for people wishing to support our Woodcock Watch project.

Visit our JustGiving page >


We can also accept donations to our Woodcock Watch project by text. Simply text GWCT80 and the amount (e.g. £2) to 70070.

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New location updates for 13 woodcock

With our birds now on the move across Europe we've received a large number of new location updates over the weekend.

 

 

Amy - has moved east from Ireland through Germany and Poland and is now in Belarus.

 

BFC - travelled north-easterly from Wales to Lithuania and is currently in Latvia.

 

Jack - on the move east from Islay and now in Northumberland.

 

Knepp - has travelled nearly 2,500km to Finland, passing through Germany, Lithuania and Estonia.

 

Lanyon - currently in Belarus having left Cornwall at the end of February.

 

Monkey III - flew north from Hampshire to Yorkshire and has since flown east to northern Poland.

 

Olwen - currently in Latvia having stopped over in Denmark.

 

Rebecca - initially travelled south-easterly to Slovakia and then north-easterly to Russia.

 

Remy - now in Latvia after leaving Scotland and stopping over in Sweden and Lithuania.

 

Rocky - newly tagged bird now in Poland after leaving Cornwall and stopping in Germany.

 

Smithy - tagged this March in Somerset, Smithy has made it to central Poland.

 

St. Brendan - left Ireland at the end of March and is now in Latvia after stopping in Poland.

 

Wensum - having never made it back to the UK, Wensum has left Germany and returned to Finland.

11 exciting new location updates

We've received a large number of location updates including some exciting news from our newly tagged woodcock.

Amy - currently in Lithuania after leaving Ireland and stopping in Holland and Poland.

BFC - tagged in Wales this March, BFC is sponsored by the British Falconers Club and is currently in Latvia.

Knepp - another new bird, Knepp is sponsored by Knepp Castle Estate and has already made it to Russia having stopped in Germany and Poland.

Lanyon - currently in Belarus after leaving Cornwall in the middle of March.

Monkey III - newly tagged in Hampshire, Monkey III has headed north and is currently in Lincolnshire, perhaps on the way to Scandinavia.

Olwen - having left Yorkshire Olwen is currently in Latvia after stopping in Denmark.

Rebecca - left Wales in the middle of March and has made it to Russia, stopping in Slovakia en route.

Remy - left Scotland and flew east to Denmark and is currently in Latvia.

Rocky - newly tagged in Cornwall, Rocky flew east to Germany and is currently in Poland.

St. Brendan - having left Ireland in early March, St. Brendan flew to Poland and is now in Latvia.

Wensum - the bird that never returned, Wensum wintered in Germany and is currently in Denmark, possibly heading back to Finland.

Location Update: Rebecca crosses into Russia

Rebecca has crossed from Belarus to Russia and is now close to her breeding site. She was in Wales on 14th March and has stopped over in Slovakia and Belarus on her journey to Russia.

 

 

Find out more about Rebecca and track her journey online >