Olwen displays unusual behaviour

The very newest data from Olwen (12th January 2014) still shows that (s)he is in East Yorkshire.

It seems very unlikely that Olwen will make the move to Wales as we were expecting. This unusual behaviour does not conform to what we have seen in other birds, most of which show a high degree of fidelity to their usual wintering sites.

Maybe cold weather in the North-east could push Olwen across to Wales – though this remains to be seen. A detailed update on Olwen will be posted here shortly.

'Unique' bird migration discovered using geolocators

Scientists have discovered what they are calling one of the world's great bird migrations using geolocators - the same technology we use in our Woodcock Watch project.

Geolocator tags were fitted to 10 rare red-necked phalarope from Scotland and one has now returned, revealing an annual migration west across the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean - a roundtrip of 16,000 miles. Read more from BBC >

First Data of 2014 - Olwen Update

Olwen has provided our first location update of 2014 and is currently in East Yorkshire. (S)he (tough one to sex!) left Wales in March and has travelled nearly 6,000km to western Russia and back.

Moluccan Woodcock is 'not so endangered' after all

A team of researchers has captured the first known photographs of the elusive Moluccan Woodcock (Scolopax rochussenii) and, in a rare case of good conservation news, suggest that it may be less threatened than previously believed...Read more >

Is Olwen our first woodcock back in Britain?

New data received this morning show one of our Welsh birds, Olwen, is back in the UK. This new location comes from the East Riding of Yorkshire and is the first provided by Olwen’s tag since early September. As Olwen was caught in Wales last winter, we would expect to see him/her returning to a similar location this year. It seems likely that this is the first stop-off on his/her way across the UK back to mid-Wales.

It is the first time this winter that one of our birds has sent data from within the UK - but it may not necessarily mean that Olwen is the first bird back. Other woodcock, such as Lanyon and Crugith, were making good progress across Europe but we have not received recent data from these birds. It may be that these two, or others, have slipped into the UK already – but have passed ‘beneath our radar’. If this is the case we can only hope that their tags send us data soon, letting us know where they are now.

Great video of Eurasian Woodcock feeding

Check out this fantastic video of a Eurasian Woodcock feeding in Norway:

Feeding Woodcock from Frode Falkenberg on Vimeo.

Why so quiet?

Many regular viewers of Woodcock Watch may have noticed a recent lack of activity from the tagged birds. This is in contrast to observations from the field – many sponsors have written to us to say that the woodcock seem to be reappearing in the UK now. So why is there so little movement?

We believe that the problem relates to the tags’ batteries. The tags are solar-powered and need to be recharged by the sun. It is possible that during the bird’s moult, due to a change in the woodcocks’ behaviour, the tags were not receiving sufficient sunlight and have run completely flat. To fully recharge a battery from flat will take about 4 hours of bright sunlight. It may be 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, not to mention the fact that the birds are often hidden during the day.

Those who followed Woodcock Watch last year will remember the same issues in our first autumn. However, this year’s results have been noticeably better and the tags have returned far more data. Crugith and Lanyon for instance have transmitted useful results through the majority of their autumn migration and we hope that more such data is on its way.

It is more than likely that some of the birds have died. Crousa, who we have not heard from since May, and Elissa, who has not sent data since June, are probably no longer alive. Annual survival rates are around 60% for woodcock - that is to say that around 40% of the adult population do not survive from one year to the next. Lifespan does not typically exceed 4 years. It is perfectly natural that we lose a few of our woodcock over the course of a year.

But for birds like St Patrick, Skittle, Amy and Rebecca, who last transmitted in August or September, there is still hope. It is possible that their tags will receive the sunlight they require in the coming weeks and will then begin transmitting data again. We observed this pattern in 2012 with several individuals sending winter locations after an autumn quiet period. It is possible that some of these birds, when we next here from them, will be back here in the UK.