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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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