Woodcock count to start soon

The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) are to join forces next year for a national survey of breeding woodcock.

It will be the first time in a decade that the secretive bird?s distribution around the country has been surveyed, and scientists hope that the project will establish a new baseline estimate of the bird?s breeding population.

Around 800 sites occupied since the previous survey, which took place in 2003, will be studied during May and June, plus 700 randomly chosen sites.

For more information, visit www.bto.org/woodcock-survey.