Monday 20 February 2012

Woodcock day roost...?

Whilst out on a site visit this morning in the north of Hampshire, I was tramping my way down a bank on the edge of a lightly-wooded stream channel when I flushed a Eurasian woodcock. As usual, the bird was well-away before I realised what it was, flying off to presumably settle down somewhere else on the site. The bird had clearly been resting (or feeding) up amongst deep leaf litter and soft streamside mud beneath a large oak tree - the ground was a dense carpet of oak leaves. Just out of curiosity I had a closer look at the spot where it flushed from and was surprised to see a little oval patch of bare soil, roughly woodcock-shaped, and with a fresh bird dropping at one (presumably the tail) end.

It struck me that I must be looking at a day roost or scrape which the bird had made whilst it spent the daylight hours in this tucked-away corner of Hampshire. I have done a little web-based research and can find no mention of such a feature. Do woodcock 'make' day scrapes??  I guess not many people consider paying attention to where a flushed woodcock came from and glance up for a fleeting glimpse of the bird's backside...

Apologies - stupid Blogger seems to prevent image rotation - this image should be rotated 90 degrees right...



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