Garth, Pinks, Penning, Hugh, Smithy & Olwen leading way through Russia

With 11 of our woodcock now having made it to Russia, Garth continues to steam ahead. She's taken a more easterly route than the others, south of Moscow and has clocked up nearly 6,000km. The map below shows the locations of the other birds currently in Russia:

This table shows current location data for each of our Woodcock Watch birds:

 

Please help us continue our woodcock research

 

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.

 

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 >

 

 

 



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.

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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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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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.

Meet our new woodcock and track them online

After a very busy period of catching and tagging we're pleased to announce that our newly tagged woodcock are now online, meaning you can track their amazing journeys using our interactive map.

Our new woodcock



Charlie

BFC

Female, caught in West Wales on 4th March 2014.

Charlie

Caught in Islay, West Scotland on 20th March 2014.

Jack
 
Caught in Islay, West Scotland on 20th March 2014.

James

Male, caught in Wiltshire on 9th March 2014.

Monkey III

Knepp

Caught in Sussex on 8th March 2014.

Mara

Female, caught in Islay, West Scotland on 20th March 2014.


Monkey III
Caught in Hampshire on 18th March.

Quill

Female, caught in Durham on 19th March 2014.



Thorn

Rocky

Female, caught in Cornwall on 27th February 2014.

Smithy

Male, caught in Somerset on 3rd March.

Thorn

Male, caught in Lincolnshire on 6th March 2014.



The capture and tagging of 'Smithy'

Jerry Barnes & Dr Andrew Hoodless

Jerry Barnes, Chairman of the Bristol and North Somerset branch of the GWCT and a partner in the Landed Estates team at accountancy and investment management firm Smith & Williamson, describes the antics associated with the satellite tagging of ‘Smithy’ – the latest bird to join the exciting Woodcock Watch project – at his shoot near Bristol.

At around 9pm on Monday, 3 March, woodcock expert Dr Andrew Hoodless, my keeper Andrew Waygood, two very knowledgeable Frenchmen and I parked up by the side of a small lane in the pitch darkness. It was a fairly moonless night with a clear sky and hardly a breath of wind.  Apparently not great conditions for sneaking up on such a wary bird as the nocturnal woodcock!

A quick sweep over the hedge into the nearby field identified a pair of faint pink eyes.  Dr Hoodless leapt into action with a lamp and a 15 foot net.  However, as soon as he set foot in the field he spotted another flicker from his lamp and went after what we assumed was another bird. Within five minutes he was back at the truck (we hadn’t moved!) with a shoe bag carefully grasped in his hand.   This turned out to be Smithy - a mature, adult male woodcock in excellent condition. After much back slapping, Smithy was measured and weighed.  Then came the very technical matter of fitting a customised satellite navigation tag. 

The French chaps had front row seats for this as they wanted to take this technology back with them so they can trace woodcock from their breeding grounds in north-eastern Europe back to Brittany – or so they hope.   After much adjusting of the harness and, I believe, a little super glue, Smithy was fitted with a very swish back pack complete with a solar panel for power and a long aerial.

Smithy sporting his new tag

After about 10 minutes and a few good luck messages, Dr Hoodless took him back into the darkness for a quiet few minutes before releasing him.   Dr Hoodless told us we’d been very lucky as usually it would be cold, wet and windy and they’d have to endure many unsuccessful attempts before finding a suitable candidate for the tagging.  And here we were, less than an hour into the night with the job done and I hadn’t even stepped into a field yet!

Filled with enthusiasm and optimism, my keeper Andrew Waygood and I demanded to find some more birds so off we all set to the other end of the moor, leaving Smithy to get on with his breakfast in peace.   Two hours later, after much yomping over very wet ground, mostly in the dark, we had found, ringed and released another three woodcock.  We watched many snipe take off from around us. They looked very eerie in the spotlight, upset a few roosting pheasants and a couple of snoozing mallards quacked to show their annoyance. Mr Fox was spotted in the distance too.

It was getting colder and a breeze had picked up, but it was hardly uncomfortable – that is with the exception of my left leg which had disappeared well over my knee into a particularly smelly bit of peaty bog, nicely filling my welly.  An hour or so of that and I took the earliest opportunity to exit the search, at about midnight.  The rest of the party stayed on for another hour or so and ringed one more healthy bird before heading for home – and probably un verre de vin.

It was a thrilling experience and a privilege to see these remarkable and beautiful birds in their natural environment on a dark night, feeding in the wet soil.   Being a Cornishman, I have been aware of these birds all my life, having seen them fly in to feed at dusk and surprised them under a holly bush in the woods during the day.  They are magical but to add to that, their story of a migration all the way to Finland or Siberia and back is truly remarkable.

On my own shoot it was great to see such an abundance of woodcock – around 25 before midnight. They were mostly mature birds that we hope will make it back to the breeding grounds and return again next winter – hopefully to my fields!