’COCK SURE?
It seems I’ve ruffled the feathers of Dr Andrew Hoodless, GWCT, and Owen Williams, The Woodcock Network, by my suggestion that we should not always adhere to their advice of shooting woodcock only after 1 December [Letters, January issue]. My original point, in my article Ground rules [November issue], was that in some parts of the country you may be lucky enough to have a fall of woodcock following the first full moon in November but that those birds may then continue migrating south and west; if you have to wait until 1 December you may have missed your chance to bag some.
Messrs Hoodless and Williams disagree with this view, stating that successive waves of migrating woodcock will give further shooting opportunity after 1 December and that on Alnwick, Holkham and Sandringham the woodcock remain in their coverts for much of the winter.
Regarding their first point, successive waves of woodcock might well appear but their numbers and annual migration timings depend on many factors, such as breeding success in their home countries, weather conditions, moon phases and wind direction. A cold snap in Europe in November, coupled with a full moon and easterlies, should produce a woodcock fall here. If that’s then followed by mild weather on the continent and westerlies, fewer woodcock might then migrate.
As for woodcock remaining throughout winter on Alnwick, Holkham and Sandringham, I’m sure that their game records will demonstrate that even on those estates there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ woodcock years. Moreover, these are huge estates, providing diverse and warm habitat for ’cock as well as freedom from disturbance. Few of us are fortunate to have such large holdings and the woodcock that appear on our shoots may well be here one week and gone the next.
I’m not a scientist, merely a countryman who’s shot for more than 50 years, and whilst I subscribe to the GWCT advice not to shoot the odd woodcock in the early part of the season – when it is indeed likely to be a home-bred bird – I’m afraid I struggle to see why we should not shoot woodcock in November if they’re present in numbers that clearly indicate there’s been a fall, so long as the birds are in good condition and are valued and eaten.
If that view condemns me as a ‘dissenting voice’, so be it, but if the coverts are full of migrant woodcock in November I’d like to see the science that proves it otherwise.
Jonathan Young, by email