Woodcock

The Woodcock is a large bulky wading bird with short legs and a very long straight tapering bill. It is largely nocturnal, spending most of the day in dense cover. Most of the birds in the UK are residents but in the autumn birds move to the UK from Finland and Russia to winter here.

Woodcock breed in large tracts of moist woodland with open glades and rides and dense ground cover of bracken and brambles. They can be found in suitable habitat in summer throughout the UK except for south-west England and in winter birds are widespread in lowland areas.

Woodcock can be very difficult to see but may be inadvertently disturbed from one from their resting places when they fly off zigzagging between the trees before dropping back into cover.

This Woodcock was a lucky sighting as it rested beside the B8007 along the Ardnamurchan peninsula.

Date: 25/12/05

Location: Ardnamurchan, Argyll