Woodcock?

[digannio]

During a countryside walk today we disturbed a pair of nesting birds. It was in the middle of a wheat field (there was a public right of way with the path going across the centre of the field). Two largish birds flew off at ground level, brown and speckled with long beaks and then rose up higher. They gave off a kind of "tsiwick" call after flying off (slightly haunting in its sound). Then we saw the nest on the ground, a fairly loosely assembled one with four large brown speckled eggs. We left fairly quickly so they wouldn't be too disturbed and watched from the field's edge to see their return. After a few minutes, they hadn't come back altho a couple of times we could hear the call in the distance. Hopefully we hadn't scared them too badly. From a bit of research, I wonder if they could be woodcocks? Does that sound about right from the description of birds and eggs?

[Picidae]

Sounds like Common Snipe - nesting habitat wrong for Woodcock and when flushed they don't call but make a fast whirring noise with their wings. Common Snipe typically lay four speckled brown eggs (large) and more likely to nest in meadows/fields than Woodcock that prefer wooded glades with undergrowth to nest in.

Common Snipe nest
http://image58.webshots.com/58/6/33/...0iOMfkE_ph.jpg

Common Snipe in flight
Galleriet - Netfugl.dk

[digannio]

Thanks for that, does sound like the one.