Knepp first woodcock to begin migration in 2015

Data received this weekend shows Knepp to be the first of our woodcock to migrate. Over the past couple of days (s)he has travelled from his/her wintering site at Knepp Castle in Sussex to western Latvia. This is a journey of around 1600 km.

Knepp spent last spring and summer in Finland. From Sussex, (s)he followed a route that took him/her through Germany and Poland, up through Latvia and Russia, and finally across the Gulf of Finland not far from St. Petersburg. (S)he arrived at his/her breeding site on the 10th April. Knepp’s latest location from Latvia suggests that (s)he is taking a similar route this year.

Last year, Knepp made a migratory pit-stop in the woodland beside Lake Peipus. This huge lake is the fifth largest in Europe and forms part of the border between Estonia and Russia. Knepp rested at this site for over a week last year. We are very interested to see whether (s)he will call in at the same stopover site in 2015.

Knepp was tagged in spring 2014 and survived the 2014 breeding season and following winter. Now we are able to follow him/her into a second year. Knepp will soon be joined on our website by a new batch of 2015 tags. The new tags have been deployed across the UK and Ireland and final arrangements are being made to get their profiles online. We are hoping this should be done for tomorrow.

Whilst they are not yet visible on the website, we have been able to check the progress of the 2015 woodcock. None of the new birds have left the UK yet but with Knepp already in Latvia we are expecting to see some of them departing soon. We are hoping to get them online before this happens; keep an eye on the Woodcock Watch website or twitter page for further updates of our new woodcock!

Please help us continue our woodcock research