NATURE TABLE: The woodcock

The woodcock is a bit of a paradox — technically it’s a wading bird and has the long beak and relatively long legs of other waders but it’s not associated with coastal mud flats or inland wetlands, as other waders are, it’s essentially a woodland bird.

They are largely nocturnal and spend the daylight hours roosting on the ground in woods, preferably ones with a fairly dense under-storey. In places where woodland is scarce they will use scrub or dense furze bushes. At night they come out to feed, probing the ground with their beaks in search of earthworms and other invertebrates.

They usually feed in damp pastures close to their roosting sites and have a habit of probing cow-pats looking for the beetles and larvae that often live under them. This leaves distinct holes that look as though they’ve been made with a knitting needle. There is a small Irish breeding population and a large influx of winter migrants which arrive, mostly from Scandinavia and mostly at night, at this time of year.