March 12th

Walking homeward along School Common Road this morning I was pleased to find a Woodcock in the emergent undergrowth in the more wooded section adjacent to Laurel Lodge. Upon seeing me it ran, only to stop after a few feet and still in full view. Having had good views of many already this year I didn't hang around and risk disturbing it further. I'm not sure what size of territory Woodcocks need for breeding, but I would imagine it is probably considerably more than is on offer here. This bird is probably one that is re-orientating back towards continental Europe and is no doubt increasing it's fat score before facing the gruelling flight ahead.