Hugh’s views: The woodcock and the pilot
On an overcast November afternoon last year, to my astonishment, a woodcock emerged from the garden surrounding our patio. Noticing my surprised reaction it immediately turned back the way it had come, just time enough for me to notice that a few feathers were hanging loosely on one wing.
By the time I got outside the bird had disappeared and for a small garden it took a while before I located it crouching between a stump and a brick wall, the cryptic plumage blending so well with the ground on which it rested.
I caught it up very easily and popped it into a small cotton bag. The bird didn’t seem to be injured the wings and legs were sound. It was probably just exhausted. As well as being native to this country woodcock migrate here from the forests of Northern Europe mainly during October and November to escape the harsher continental weather. This individual had probably just crossed the North Sea and was recovering from the journey.
I took the bird up to Coquet Vets where I left it. Later that evening I was informed that it had been examined, the damaged plumage had been tweaked and that the bird was now in the care of the Blyth Wildlife Rescue Centre where it would be able to complete its recovery.
Woodcock have recently been placed on the Red List here because of a severe fall in their numbers but surprisingly are still classed as a gamebird and can be shot between 1 October and 31 January.
The woodcock was added to our garden bird list and three weeks later we had another surprising addition to make. This time it was a goldcrest which like the woodcock is also a native species which migrates here at a similar time of year from the forests of Northern Europe. Like the woodcock it too had probably just arrived from across the North Sea. This tiny bird, was quite lively and after a few seconds hunting insects in a honeysuckle was soon on its way.
With the arrival of both species in this country at the same time of year it was once a commonly held belief that such a tiny bird could not cross the vastness of the sea unaided and that they must probably hitch a lift in the woodcock’s plumage and so the goldcrest became known as the woodcock’s pilot.
Hugh Tindall
