Taking care of our resident woodcock

Press briefing at CLA Game Fair

From the list of quarry species that the shooting community hold most dear, woodcock must be top of the list. Showing concern for its status, investing in research carried out by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, and willingly getting involved in projects that can help to conserve the bird, all go to prove that the elusive woodcock is a much treasured and prized species.

The status of woodcock in the UK

The status of resident woodcock in the past decade has been the subject of much debate and concern, especially when in 2002 it was amber listed because of an apparent long-term decline in its breeding status and range.

At this time crude estimates suggested that there were just 5,000 to 12,500 pairs. As a consequence of this the GWCT teamed up with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) in 2003 to conduct the first national survey of breeding woodcock.

To gain a more accurate picture in the survey, Dr Andrew Hoodless, the GWCT’s leading woodcock authority, designed a species specific counting method, which involved recording the number of passes of roding male woodcock in a given time. Using this much more exact method to assess the population of resident woodcock, the survey estimated that there were 78,350 males for Britain – over six times the previous maximum estimate, and thus dispelling concerns that the woodcock was a rare breeding bird.

Although further regular counts by volunteers showed a stable population until 2007, since 2008 the monitoring has recorded an overall average decline of 2.5% per year of resident birds.

Updating the estimates

In order to investigate further, the GWCT together with BTO decided that it was important to repeat the national breeding survey in 2013.

Visiting 820 random 100-hectare squares during the breeding season, the volunteers carried out surveys across the UK and for the first time included sites in Northern Ireland.

Overall, roding woodcock were encountered at just under one third of woodlands surveyed (33%). Northern Scotland, northern and eastern England remained stronghold areas with between 46% and 68% of woods greater than 10 hectares supporting at least one roding woodcock.

The lowest occupancy levels were recorded in Wales (13%) south Midlands (16%) and south west England (18%).

In was noticeable that in southern England the sites occupied by breeding woodcock are clustered in areas with extensive blocks of woodland such the Forest of Dean, New Forest and Thetford Forest.

Based on these figures, the current breeding woodcock population in Britain amounts to about 69,000 males, which represents an 11% decline since 2003. Encouragingly, numbers in Scotland remain unchanged since 2003 at close to 40,000 males. In England, woodcock numbers are down from 37,330 in 2003 to 27,490 in 2013. Wales continues to support only low numbers of breeding woodcock with 1,770 recorded in 2003 and 910 recorded in 2013.

What might be causing these changes?

Dr Andrew Hoodless, explains the change, “We know that woodcock have very specific habitat requirements during the breeding season and they are sensitive to habitat change. We don’t fully understand the factors driving the decline but they are likely to include a reduction in woodland management, increased browsing by deer, drying out of woods, maturation of conifer plantations, increased recreational disturbance, climate change and increased predation. Counter-intuitively, we do not think the changes have been caused by shooting.”

In the next few years Dr Hoodless and his team will be analysing the data from previous surveys on landscape composition around survey sites and information on habitat structure that has been gathered to further understand the factors influencing breeding woodcock distribution.

What can you do to help?

In the meantime, Andrew Hoodless is inviting people to help with woodcock research in three ways:

1. Roding woodcock counts. We count displaying males each year to monitor our breeding population, but need more help. Could you make three counts at dusk between 1 May and 30 June in 2015? If possible, we would like you to repeat the survey over the next few years.
2. Bag data. We are looking for those who shoot woodcock to supply bag data for shoot dates through the season. Currently we collect bag data as annual totals. To better understand the timing of woodcock migration in different years, we need more detailed information on when woodcock are shot. Forms are available on our website: www.gwct.org.uk/woodcockform
3. Send us some shot woodcock. We will dissect the bodies and gather valuable scientific data on weight, fat and muscle reserves to aid our understanding of migration and help produce guidance on shooting in cold weather. Details of how and when to send us the bodies can be found here.

Dr Hoodless concludes, “There is a huge amount of affection for woodcock and this is demonstrated by the amount of money that is devoted to woodcock research by the shooting community as well as to the conservation efforts dedicated to protecting its habitats. Until we know what is driving these declines it is important to make sure we are doing everything possible to protect our resident woodcock. Helping with our next phase of research is vital to discover how our resident woodcock are faring so that we can make recommendations on the best way to conserve this popular species in the future.”

More information on woodcock research and the latest population estimates can be viewed on the GWCT website at www.gwct.org.uk/woodcock. To follow the GWCT’s 36 satellite-tagged woodcock to their summer breeding grounds in Europe and Russia please visit: www.woodcockwatch.com

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