What a magical experience it is
to listen to woodland gradually fall silent as night approaches. As part of the
BTO’s survey of breeding woodcock this Spring, I duly turned up at dusk to my
allotted woodland survey point to stand and look up from the glade while
listening out for the strange calls of
this enigmatic bird. A cuckoo called from another part of the wood; but gradually
the willow warblers, robins, thrushes and blackbirds ceased singing their
symphony as the sun set. A badger came bustling down the trail, only to stop
and ‘test the air’ with its nose about three metres from where I was standing
stock still before beating a hasty retreat; a while later a fox crossed quickly
over the trail and a roe deer barked from the depths of the wood.
As it grew darker, several bats emerged to tackle the abundance of
flying insects and the querulous ‘oooh…ooh’ of a male tawny owl was answered by
sharp ‘kewick’ calls as another owl responded. Then, out of the gloaming, a
woodcock flew over the clearing uttering its weird croaks and squeaks. Altogether
I recorded five ‘events’ including one more sighting, but whether this involved
the same bird five times (possibly) or five different birds (less likely) is
difficult to tell.
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