Breeding of the Woodcock in Britain

Abstract

The 215 Woodcock nest record cards collected between 1945 and 1971, together with additional data from the diaries of the late Arthur Whitaker, show that the breeding season begins in mid-March, and continues to the beginning of July, with a peak at the end of March. The evidence for one or more broods is conflicting.The average incubation period from seven accurate records is 22.3 days. The interval between eggs laid is usually 24 hours, with some records of at least 48 hours. The average clutch size of 132 nests is 3.9, 84% of the clutches being of four eggs. No regional or seasonal differences were found. The brood size from 54 nests is on average 3.5 young.Using all nests of known outcome 63.6% of the eggs laid subsequently hatched. Excluding total failures, 90.3% of all eggs hatched. Nesting success (percentage of nests started which produced at least one chick) was 66.4%. Productivity per pair per year (average brood size X nesting success) is 2.3, if single brooded. Annual adult mortality estimates derived from ringing data were compared with productivity from nest record card data.The habitat and nest site information from nest record cards are briefly described.

Breeding biology of the Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola L.) in the Carpathian Basin

“…Based on data from the Carpathian Basin, the distribution within the breeding period fits well with the results of studies in Germany (Steinfatt 1938), England (Morgan & Shorten 1974, Hirons 1982, and Great Britain (Hoodless 1994). According to these, the timing of Woodcock breeding is independent from specific geographical features, although its beginning differs based on British results.…”

“…88.8% of the nests they examined contained 4 eggs, while 9.0% contained 3 eggs; the average number of eggs was 3.9. Based on his studies in England (n=330), Alexander (1946) gave an average of 3.8 eggs per nest, which is almost the same value (3.9) as the later study of Morgan and Shorten (1974) suggests. They found no difference between the average size of clutches (n=168) from different areas of Great Britain: Scotland (n=60) the average was 3.9; Northern England (n=64) the average was 3.8; Southern England (n=44); the average was 3.8.…”

“…According to international literature (Gementiev & Gladkov 1951, Morgan & Shorten 1974, Hirons 1982, Hoodless 1994, the main breeding season of Woodcock is in April-May, but breeding in March is not uncommon in Great Britain (Hirons 1982, Hoodless 1994. According to our research, the main breeding period in Hungary is also in April-May; we know more than two-thirds of the nestings from this period.…”

“…During a study conducted in Great Britain, 933 eggs in 277 nests were examined, 74.1% of which hatched (Hoodless 1994, Hoodless & Coulson 1994. During the studies of Morgan and Shorten (1974), 288 of the 453 eggs hatched (63.8%); the main factor causing the loss was nest predation. In the study of Hoodless and Coulson (1994), 44 hens left the nests during the breeding period, of which 31 were abandoned due to human disturbance (scaring away the hen from the nest), in four cases due to forestry activities, three times due to extreme weather, and in six cases the Woodcocks left their eggs for unknown reasons.…”