Distant memory

[Beekeeper]

of when i was young, often walking across the forest heaths i would disturb birds on the ground well camoflaged that would take off straight up into the air like a helicopter does, rather think they may have been Woodcocks but as i havent seen one for years now maybe my recollections of its name are wrong, could someone conform my memory please as this has really been bothering me recently.

Thanks

Ian

[Dave66]

Hi Ian
We have a lot of woodcocks in Argyll and they can give you a fright when they take off. Sometimes they wait untill your only 2 feet away. The other birds we have that do this are Snipe but they only fly a few feet above the ground in a zig zag pattern. It probably is woodcock your remembering

Dave.

[Melus]

Ian

Iif the bird was small I would hazard a guess at either Meadow Pipit or Skylark, numbers of both have declined since the good old days

Woodcock are quite a large bird and are normally found during the day in woodland, normally with fairly dense ground cover. You normally just see the back end unless you see them 'rodeing' during the evening.

Hope this helps

regards
gary

[Beekeeper]

Dave and Gary,

Thanks very much for replying, i think Dave has confirmed the name for me, i felt fairly sure it was a Woodcock but due to amount of time that has passed i just couldn't remember, i miss those birds, as you said they do wait until you are almost on top of them before taking off and do fly straight up, not in any ziz zag pattern, i seem to remember that they were a mottled brown colour and quite large, probably slightly larger than a blackbird but i have not looked up any pictures yet, i don;t think i ever had a close up view of one on the ground, they do hide theirselves very well even on grassland but i areas of heath they are totally invisible.

I don't know why they have left my area as it is still the same, although there are these days numerous walkers compared to when i was young, sadly people and wildlife just do not mix.

Ian

[Deer Stalker]

Hi Ian,

There are still plenty of Woodcocks on the Forest, though, as Melus says, they are usually found on the woods. You can hear them Roding in the summer evenings over most of the woods in the Forest. Snipe are usually in the boggy parts of the heaths.

[Beekeeper]

Thanks Deer Stalker, these days i guess my walks are all during the day, i used to be out in the forest every evening when i was young but of course always to much to do now in the evenings.

Oh for the simple life of a child!!

Ian