They're back...

Over the last week, Madalina and I had been heading out on to the hills in Mid Wales to check if any Woodcock had made their way back some of our ringing sites, where they spend the winter. Although the majority of them arrive from mid November onwards, there always seem to be a few that appear in the second half of October (makes you wonder if these first ones are UK birds, or from across the sea).

On Saturday night I saw my first two Woodcock of the season, but frustratingly they were a bit jumpy and I annoyingly missed catching both of them! Last night, in much better conditions (strong winds), Madalina and I headed out again. We only saw one Woodcock during the seven or so hours that we were out, but this one was a lot less jumpy and the net was soon dropped over it.

As always seems to be the case with the first ones that arrive, this bird was a juvenile. Throughout the season, there are always a few Woodcock that are a little trickier to age than others, but this one had very nice obvious tips to the primary coverts (juveniles have nice rounded primary coverts with the tips the same colour as the rest of the pattern on the feather, whereas adults have flattened ends to the primary coverts with a pale tip).

As well as Woodcock, we are also trapping and ringing the other birds that are using these sites. By the end of the night, we possibly had one of the best catches we'd had in a long time, with totals of: 8 Snipe, 7(1) Jack Snipe, 7(1) Golden Plover, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Fieldfare and 2 Skylark (we also rescued and ringed a Mallard from the middle of the road on the way home).