The subzero temperatures finally abated last weekend and it is now feeling like spring! On Saturday, though, I headed to the coast in the hope of seeing some of the huge influx of Woodcocks the heavy snowfall had brought. At first, I only got the typical views of birds flying away from me but, with a lot of patience and a bit of luck, I finally got to watch three of them feeding on the ground. It has probably been around thirty years since I last saw a Woodcock feeding, as opposed to displaying or being flushed. They were hopelessly ensconced amongst a jumble of branches so I fired off a couple of pictures without really expecting to get anything recognisable but am very pleased with the result. In the second picture below you can even make out a second one between the tree-trunks on the right. By the time I'd finished my walk, I had had at least a dozen Woodcock sightings involving eight or more individuals in a relatively small area. A few other year ticks such as Goosander, Rock Pipit and both Knot and Grey Plover feeding amongst 130 or so Sanderling took my 2021 list to 120 species so far.
