Woodcock

It would be quite possible to plant new woodcock coverts even today - but they would not be an economic proposition to the same extent as pheasant woodlands. Nevertheless there are many owners who at least wish to preserve what they have, and others who can afford modest changes in their softwoods policy.

Woodcocks are resident throughout the British Isles in fair numbers and breed in all counties, except perhaps Cornwall. The more southerly counties are less favoured.

Migration The majority of birds that make up our winter population are migrants from northern Europe and their flight lines seem to follow a regular pattern. The movements of woodcock are more clearly defined than snipe, which move south and west on a broad front.

Migration, as observed in the Isles of Scilly, starts with the October moon. This is invariable, though the numbers involved depend on the wind strength and direction, as well as the severity of the winter. Like most migrants, they seem to know when bad weather is to come and keep ahead of it. The mild season of 1966-7 produced small numbers of woodcock in Cornwall, compared to the hard winter of 1962-3. It was interesting to note during that very hard winter the woodcock arriving in west Cornwall were not in such bad condition as the snipe: they monopolised all the unfrozen areas on the edges of running water, in some cases driving the weak and starving snipe away.

Good shoots are naturally on the main migratory routes. These include the promontories of our eastern, western and southern shores, also the Irish coastline. Here, near the coast, the weather is warmer and the fields less likely to freeze. It is in such areas that it would be profitable to plant and maintain suitable woodcock cover.

Habitat

Perhaps because woodcock resemble snipe in many ways, there is a tendency to think that they like only boggy or wet conditions, but nothing could be further from the truth. During the day, which is spent mainly resting- though in hard weather they feed voraciously all round the clock - they seek a dry, sheltered locality with plenty of open spaces at ground level and good cover overhead.

An all-important requirement is quiet. For this reason many experts will not allow pheasants to be released in the same area, though proof as to the success of this measure is lacking one way or the other.

Favourite sites are usually spinneys of alder, willow, rhododendron - when tunnelled and not too dense - gorse, hazel and sometimes bracken. The floor is comparatively bare and lawn-like or carpeted with dead leaves: the soil rich in humus. American woodcock also favour alder groves as well as aspen plantations when not too high, and grey dogwood thickets. Alder, sycamore and aspen are associated with high levels of nitrogen: so are earthworms.

The overhead canopy of the covert should be broken and not too high. The ! optimum seems to be about 10-15 ft. (3-4z m.) for alder and willow and 5-10 ft. (12-3 m.) for gorse and rhododendron. In coverts of any size this means a rotation that can involve a great deal of work. The open spaces, clear to the sky, are used by the birds for getting in and out. Such spaces can take the 3

form of zigzag paths, circles about 10-20 ft. (3-6 m.) in diameter, and wide ; rides which divide the coverts into shootable blocks and provide good stands. To be out of the wind is essential and this is why they usually frequent low-lying alder and willow scrub. To some extent this produces a conflict of interests for such places are often damp and boggy. If they are, the right ' conditions must be obtained by providing good drainage with a system of

ditches and by keeping the ground cover - brambles, rushes, etc. - under strict control.

Given calm conditions woodcock feed mostly at night. Indeed they can be observed and counted at dusk leaving their coverts and flighting to nearby soft ground, plough or market-garden type of land. Well manured root fields are a favourite. Here they probe and listen for worms in the same way as snipe: in the woods they will excavate under the leaves for invertebrates. They tend to avoid clay, calcareous and sandy soils, which are low in humus, though in some good snipe areas in Cornwall and Tresco these particular soils present no clear-cut disadvantages. The key is the availability of earthworms, usually more common in pasture fields.

Shooting

Driven woodcock is a specialised art and produces superb shooting which, no doubt, is why in west Cornwall and similar districts there is less incentive to rely on pheasants.

Short drives of not more than 200 yds. ( 180 m.) are the order of the day and this means that the coverts must be split up into small blocks by wide rides in which the Guns stand. Probably the most important aid to driving and picking-up afterwards is a well-disciplined pack of spaniels. Woodcock will run before the beaters and when flushed will often fly in a predictable way. Year after year these birds can be found in the same places. They have a liking for flighting down tunnels among the trees or through gaps between tall species, and this can be employed to good purpose by the shoot owner. Artificial tunnels can be made and trees felled in strategic places to funnel the birds towards the Gun stands.

To sum up, woodcock require their own special day-coverts which must be kept quiet, while adequate night-feeding grounds should be available nearby. A cock keeper can be a surprisingly busy man, with ground cover to clear, rides to maintain, gaps to cut in the canopy, new plantations to manage, top and coppice, ditches to drain and so on.

New information* on the breeding biology of the woodcock

Recent research into the breeding biology of the woodcock has shown that males, contrary to popular belief, do not maintain exclusive territories and are successively polygamous, mating with several females each season. The pair bond lasts only for the few days prior to egg-laying, and the male then plays no further part in the proceedings. Many nests are lost to predators, particularly foxes, but females can re-lay in as little as 8 days after losing eggs or chicks, although they usually move to another locality to do so (up to 6 miles [10 km.] away). Males return to breed in the same area every year.

* Research carried out by Dr G. ,J. M. Hirons, Game Conservative.

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