Urban birds at Hull. 58. Woodcock

Photo (c) Lauren Field CC BY-NC 4.0 via iNaturalist 28 October 2018, East Park.

The Woodcock is a most unusual wader. Beautifully its plumage provides it with a beautiful camouflage: finely streaked and speckled, matches the browns, russets greys and blacks of the leaf litter on the woodland floor. Its eyes are high up on the head, affording the bird an all-round field of vision. Legs are short and pinkish. Woodcocks are crepuscular and nocturnal and feed using their straight long and sensitive bill to probe the ground for invertebrates: earthworms, beetles, snails and larvae. During the day, they sit motionless relying on their camouflage for anti-predator defence. They will leave woodland to feed on fields at night during the winter.

Without the use of a thermal telescope, it would have been pretty difficult to spot this Woodcock sitting under a gorse at Bempton Cliffs.

Status and Distribution in Hull

The Woodcock is a regular migrant and scarce wintering bird in Hull. Records are from mid October to the beginning of April, with spring migration peaking in March and Autumn migration peaking in November. During migration it is most likely to be seen in flight, and it can turn up anywhere in Hull.Unfortunately, it is not unusual for birds to collide with building windows during migration. Woodcocks have a distinctive flight silhouette: a dumpy bird with short wings and a long bill, pointing down. During the winter it may settle in wooded areas such as cemeteries, parks and hedgerows in the outskirts. 

Woodcock at South Landing, 10 February 2014.

Conservation and Management

The Woodcock moved from Amber to Red listed in 2015 due to strong population declines. Most of our migrating and wintering Woodcocks are European birds coming for the winter. Repeated specific Woodcock breeding surveys carried out by the BTO suggest a 35% decline in displaying males between 2003 and 2023. The breeding population appears to have also contracted in range. The causes for the decline are unclear.

Woodcock in flight. Photo (c) Steve Evans CC BY-NC 4.0 via iNaturalist.

More information

BTO Bird facts. Woodcock.

Broughton, R.K. 2002. Birds of the Hull area.

Holderness: Keyingham, Ryehill, Camerton, Thorngumbald and Hedon

Wintry cold has finally arrived after weeks of overcast, mild and gloomy weather, which, on the positive side brought some welcome rain. My aim today is to visit two hamlets just by Thorngumbald, which are in the middle of my walk. I take the 7:45 X7 bus to Keyingham, and walk along Church Lane and then around the church through Station Road.  There are a couple of short hail showers to start with, but otherwise the weather was quite pleasant, with plenty of sunny spells. The fields by the village are busy with Rooks, Jackdaws and gulls. Two Woodpigeons gorge on what looks like some type of cherry, balancing on the thin branches to reach them.

Woodpigeon with cherries.

Keyingham St Nicholas church.

Jackdaw.

A Starling singing and basking in the sunshine.

Rook portrait.

A female House Sparrow feeding on haws.

Stock Dove singing by the old station building.

As I take the Withernsea railway track towards Hedon, I notice a Curlew on a paddock. On the other side of the track, on a winter sown field there are 15 curlew, their lovely calls carrying far. Blackbirds, Redwings and Fieldfares move along the hedges lining the track, feeding on haws and sloes. It doesn't take me long to get to Keyingham drain (top shot). As I get there a large flock of Fieldfare and redwing land on a field and then fly overhead to Kelsey Gardens.

Curlew.

Curlew and Black-headed Gull.

A Song Thrush picked a sloe and tried to swallow it to no avail, the sloes are quite of a large size this year.

Four juvenile Mute Swans, I wonder if the offpring of the Kelsey Gardens pair, on Keyingham drain.

Fieldfares and a couple of Redwing.

Fieldfare and Redwings.

I take a short detour to Kelsey Gardens south lake. It is quiet, the cafe closed. I flush two Cormorants that were fishing near the shore, they land on the middle of the lake and eye me suspiciously. The resident pair of Mute Swans are more sedated, swimming by and in the distance at least 4 Little Grebes. Two crows rattle casing a Sparrowhawk. A Great Spotted Woodpecker feeds on a lichen-covered tree trunk. I return to the railway trail and watch Reed Buntings feeding on a field planted with millet (I think!). Further on, a Buzzard is sitting on a field, walking every now and then with that funny swagger of them. There is a stretch of road towards Ryehill I must walk by. I was planning to take a right of way 'shortcut' across the field, but I notice there is a large mixed flock of Lapwing and Golden plover on it, so I carry on by the road. Just by the crossing a covey of Red-legged Partridges are sitting looking like they are enjoying the sunshine.

Cormorant.

Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Mute Swans.

Little Grebes.

Redwing.

Long-tailed Tit.

Magpie amongst the sheep.

Reed Bunting.

Buzzard on a field.

Lapwing.

Red-legged Partridge.

Golden Plovers by Ryehill.

Ryehill and Camerton are next to each other on the East of Thorngumbald, I take a walk around them. On a field by Ryehill I count 42 Curlew, which is the most I've seen in a long while. I'm pleased to record the Green Meshweaver in Thorngumbald. I want to check the Fallow Deer herd by the road to Hedon. I count 22, some of them look young and many are very pale. A few though, have the lovely russet coat with white spots.

Curlew by Ryehill.

Pied Wagtail.

A Green Meshweaver at Thorngumbald.

Fallow Deer.

Fallow Deer buck with doe.

I even managed to spot a Buff-tailed Bumblebee, basking underneath a Mahonia.

Urban birds at Hull. 57. Goldcrest

The Goldcrest is the smallest bird in the UK. They are most often heard (if your hearing is good!) than seen, their calls and song are very high pitched, the latter sounding like a tiny violin, up and down for a while with a final flourish. It favours dense-canopy trees such as conifers and ivy-clad trees, where they feed on tiny insects and spiders, but in the winter it can be found more widely, often joining mixed flocks of tits, always active. Goldcrests have a greenish-grey back, warmer head and paler underneath, with white wing bars and black wing patch. The eyes are big and dark and the bill thin. Its most distinctive feature is its crest, a bright stripe lined with black, yellow in females and with a central orange stripe in males, often flat and thin, but open and erected when the bird is excited. Goldcrests have a very compact shape, without a discernible neck, and a short tail, but their legs are relatively long.

Goldcrest in hedgerow. The Avenues. 13 November 2021.

A singing Goldcrest. Pearson Park, 17 April 2016.

Fledgling Goldcrest at Pickering Park. Sculcoates, 4 June 2022. Note the lack of 'crest'.

Another fledgling at Pickering Park,12  June 2022.

Status and Distribution in Hull

Goldcrests are widely distributed in Hull, although they are never common. They can be seen year round, but in the autumn and winter, when numbers swell with migrants they are more obvious and widespread. It is amazing to think that they fly across the North Sea away from the cold continental winters. Mature yew trees in cemeteries are a favoured breeding spot, but they can also be found in garden and park conifers. Locations where breeding has been proven include Pickering Park rock garden, East Park Khyber Pass, Pearson Park and the cemeteries. It may seem surprising that they used to be quite rare in Hull, as described by Richard Broughton in his 'Birds of the Hull Area'.

Goldcrest being ringed at Spurn Bird Observatory, 31 October 2019.

Conservation and Management

The Goldcres is a Green Listed species. Although Goldcrest numbers drop after harsh winters, the population size has remained stable since the 90s. The species might benefit from climate warming and milder winters. The species is more abundant in urban environments than in other natural habitats (except woodland, especially conifer woodland). Fashion for gardening with conifers benefits the species in urban environments as do mature wood in churchyards and cemeteries. 

More information

BTO Bird Facts. Goldcrest.

Broughton, R.K. 2002. Birds of the Hull area.

Holderness: Patrington to Welwick circular

A bright morning, the cupola of the Holderness sky pale blue streaked with light clouds. I took bus X7 to Patrington and walked to Patrington Haven, then heading to the recently completed managed realignment around Welwick saltmarsh, which has been named The Outstrays. The place is unrecognisable as the flood bank has been moved inland, and what used to be fields is now establishing saltmarsh with Brent grazing, wideon splashing and Little Egrets looking for small fish and invertebrates in the new creeks and lagoons. 

A Jackdaw looks on from its chimney pot at Patrington.

Rook at Patrington.

One of two Curlews feeding on a field by Patrington.

Two Grey Wagtails and a PIed Wagtail were feeding on a roof at Patrington Haven

A Girdled Snail, several were out around a large ivy at Patrington Haven. This is an expanding species.

Grey Heron.

An interpretation panel at the Outstrays.

A large flock of Curlew feed on a grassy area recently created. I move onwards by the quarry of Haverfield, now vegetated with hawthorn and other trees. I ponder what was extracted from the quarry when the materials on some molehills remind me: this is a fossil dune which used to be the shore of the Humber before land was reclaimed and Sunk Island was annexed to the mainland. I decide I need to do this walk again in the summer, looks wonderful for bush-crickets and dragonflies and other insects. In fact, a bumblebee is now feeding on some late bramble flowers and a dronefly lands to bank in the sunshine. 

A buzzard mews and is chased by crows. As I emerge from the quarry there is a view of the new freshwater ponds. There are many birds including Teal, Shoveler and a Little Egret. A Shelduck lands. Then I spot a Kestrel that looks like has caught a big bird and is mantling it, there are distress calls and much flapping, but as I focus my binoculars I realise there are two Kestrels in a dogged fight, they separate and come together again. Their calls attract the attention of crows and of a Sparrowhawk. I watch them as they pursue each other and come to the ground again, one of them hovering over the other. One looks like a female, the other a young male.

Greylag Geese by Haverfield.

Fighting Kestrels.

Fighting Kestrels.

Sparrowhawk fly over.

Yellowhammer.

The footpath doesn't go on the flood wall, but behind it to avoid disturbance, but as I get to Sheep Trod Lake there is a new viewpoint with a screen with windows and seats. I take a seat and eat my lunch watching and listening to the Brent Geese just in front of me. The screen faces eastwards and the Spurn Lighthouse is visible in the distance behind the new marsh (top shot). Afterwards, I walk towards Welwick and then, given that traffic is quite light, I walk along the main road to Patrington to get my bus back.

The new screen.

Little Egret.

Brent.

Kestrel. A day of many kestrels!

Shelduck and Brent.

St Mary's, Welwick.

The gunpowder plot sculpture near Welwick. Two of the plotters were brothers that were born and grew up at by Plowlands Farm.