The distribution and decline of breeding woodcock


We locate tagged woodcock in woodland by radio- tracking. © Andrew Hoodless/GWCT


BACKGROUND


In Britain, woodcock occur as both a resident breeding species and a migrant winter visitor. Britain’s small breeding population has undergone severe declines, as highlighted by our national woodcock surveys in 2003 and 2013. The results of these surveys are now helping us identify possible causes of declines.


In 2013, in collaboration with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), we co-ordinated a nationwide survey of breeding woodcock. Counts of ‘roding’ males were used to estimate local abundance at over 900 sites nationally. It was the second survey of its kind and allowed us to assess population change against a baseline survey conducted in 2003. These surveys found that Britain’s breeding woodcock population had declined by


29% between 2003 and 2013 and, among woods that were surveyed in both years, 33% of occupied sites had completely lost their breeding woodcock by 2013. These trends are in broad agreement with the Bird Atlas surveys, which suggest the British breeding woodcock population has been declining since at least the early 1970s. Halting declines requires an understanding of the behaviour and habitat requirements of residents during the breeding season. To identify potential causes of recent declines, we compared the national


KEY FINDINGS


Woodcock showed a strong association with the most heavily-wooded regions in Britain. Woodland was important on a very large spatial scale, suggesting a possible relationship with connectivity. Woodcock were more commonly recorded in wet woodland and coniferous woodland. Nationally, woodcock were less abundant in areas where foxes were more common.


Chris Heward Andrew Hoodless


woodcock survey results with corresponding data on habitat, weather and mammal abundance. There is a strong association between woodcock abundance and very large, continuous networks of woodland, with many medium-sized or large-but- isolated woods that once supported woodcock no longer doing so. Connectivity of woodland may be important if young woodcock are unable to disperse over long distances or if male woodcock need to cover large roding areas to locate a mate.


TABLE 1


The percentage of sites occupied by woodcock in 2013 in relation to dominant tree type


Tree type


Wet woodland Beech


Oak (inc. oak-birch) Other broadleaf Sitka spruce Other conifer


Mixed woodland* Various** Total


Occupied


34 6


52 11 24 64 24 15


230 Surveyed


65 37


158 117 54


141 81 36


689 %


52.3 16.2 32.9 9.4


44.4 45.4 29.6 41.7 33.4


*Sites where an intimate mix of broadleaf and conifer dominate, **sites where no single woodland type makes up ≥50% of the wooded area.


28 | GAME & WILDLIFE REVIEW 2016 www.gwct.org.uk


© Andrew Hoodless


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