Thanks to volunteer Robert King for his report, recording and photos
Spring and summer 2020 have been a strange time for many reasons. On nights when it has not been raining, just as the twilight fades away, a strange sound can be heard over the wooded heath at RSPB Pulborough Brooks. It starts as a low grunting, “warp – warp – warp” then a high pitched squeak, “piz’p!” It repeats, again and again. A flying pig? Not quite, but something just as strange. It’s a male Woodcock, and this is his ‘song’.
Play this audio clip
Song of a Woodcock (Robert King)
Woodcock are a wading bird, slightly larger than a Snipe, but with a similar long bill designed for probing the soil for worms and invertebrates. In contrast to the Snipe, it’s a wader of woodland, not wetland. Both sexes are identical and are supremely camouflaged, for they nest and sleep amongst the leaf litter on the woodland floor.
In winter numbers are swollen by arrivals from the continent – I’ve seen incoming Woodcock make landfall on the east coast having made the North Sea crossing overnight. In winter they are regular visitors to the reserve, for the best chance of seeing one, stand in the carpark as day turns to night on a cold winter’s eve. At that time of year, they spend their days hidden in leaf litter in the woodland and heath, flying at dusk over the Visitor Centre to the wetlands to feed on worms.
Woodcock flying over the reserve in winter (Robert King)
We’ve not had Woodcock in summer at the reserve for a decade, so this year is special. In fact, it’s better than that, for it’s not just a lone bird, there have been two male Woodcock. Although the sexes look identical, we can tell we’ve got males because of their behaviour. The male will set up a regular patrol of his territory, flying circuits at tree-top height, night after night, calling as he does so. This is called roding. It serves two purposes. He’s defending his territory - saying ‘this is mine!’ Our two males have neighbouring territories and there are frequent border disputes – we’ve seen them meet head-on, with much squeaking and aerial chasing as they redefine the border.
But more importantly, roding indicates his presence to females. We don’t know whether we’ve got any females, but our habitat is suitable and the fact that two males have spent literally months of effort defending their territories is surely a good sign.
Woodcock don’t nest in trees, they don’t feed in trees but they need woodland, they rely on it. The female needs damp woodland with good ground cover. She’ll nest on the floor, sitting tight on her eggs during the day and coming off the nest briefly at night to feed for worms on the woodland floor. Wader chicks are precocial which means that as soon as they hatch they are independent and able to walk and feed for themselves - although mum will still watch over them and brood them at night. This is in contrast to altricial birds (such as Blue Tits and Blackbirds) which are blind and helpless when they hatch and need their parents to bring food back to the nest for them to eat.
Before she can lay eggs, she needs a male. There’s a lot still unknown about Woodcock social lives. Some theories are that the female chooses a suitable patch of woodland for nesting and then when she hears a male roding overhead she calls to bring him down or flies up to meet him. The pair descend to the woodland floor to mate. She’ll lay eggs one a day for a period of several days, until her clutch of 4 eggs is complete. For each egg, the ‘pair’ will need to mate. But the male doesn’t necessarily stay with the female, he’s polygynous – he defends his territory and hopes to mate with all the females in it. She is polyandrous, which means that if her clutch isn’t complete and a different male appears, then she may mate with him. So the chicks may have different fathers – reason indeed for the male to make sure he patrols his territory and keep tabs on ‘his’ female(s).
Woodcock on woodland floor (Les Bunyan, rspb-images.com)
The male takes no part in rearing the young, once they hatch, the chicks will feed amongst the leaf litter and understorey, mum close at hand, until old enough to fly. Nesting on the floor is perilous- there are plenty of predators or clumsy Fallow Deer which could trample the nest. To help spot danger, her eyes are set wide apart on the sides of head, giving her 360o vision. But she’ll rely on her camouflage, if she takes off she’ll save herself, but loose her eggs or brood. We can do our bit to help her by keeping our dog close at heel when we walk the footpaths around the heath. All in all it must be very stressful being a female Woodcock. Fingers crossed that she’s successful – then perhaps this winter when you stand in the carpark on a cold winters eve, you might be treated to the sight of a young Woodcock that has spent all its life at RSPB Pulborough Brooks flying over you.