The Lincolnshire Bird Club

The GCT seem to be embarking on a study: http://www.gct.org.uk/text01.asp?PageId=443 Globally Woodcocks are of 'least concern' http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/specie ... p&sid=2978 with an estimated population of 15-16 million birds, although as Richard states it was formely listed at a European level as threatened; it has subsequently been de-listed. It is not therefore the sort of species that NGOs are going to spend a finite conservation budget on. The UK breeding Woodcock population is however amber-listed because of an apparent long-term decline in breeding numbers (–76% during 1974–99) and range (–31% during 1968/72–1988/91, Gregory et al. 2002). Habitat loss is consistently cited as the driver of this decline (changes in the structure of British woods, suggestive of reduced management and increased grazing/browsing) although hunting pressure may be an additional additive factor. I would imagine there could be political factors at play with such studies which invariably involve some level of funding from the GCT.

Alex

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Dr Alexander C. Lees
Lecturer in tropical ecology
Manchester Metropolitan University

Lab Associate
Cornell Lab of Ornithology,
Cornell University

http://www.freewebs.com/alexlees/index.htm
@Alexander_Lees

I used to live next door to the Tumby Wood complex and like Edd has mentioned Woodcock shoots there are serious business and attract alot of people who are willing to pay good money and travel from far and wide for a days sport! One thing which is interesting is that on these shoot days nothing else is shot at, but Woodcock. There always seemed to be good numbers when I birded these woods, on average 50+ on a mornings birding and that was just keeping to the main rides.

Mark

So, that's why I never see Woodcock, they're all being culled. Although I have to simpathise with this shooting of Woodcock, I deel that they are soon to go the way of the Passenger Pigeon.

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Alastair Carr

Where there is a will, there is a way....

I am going to a meeting tonight with some rspb area officials and will raise the matter and report back with info for people to contact on the issue. I also find the woodcock situation and all forms of killing for so called SPORT disgraceful and indefensable. I have in my wardening days come across the same situation before only previously it was snipe that were involved and the dead birds were just left in a pile in the middle of the marsh, they did not even take them away. Some higher bodies though view the situation differently with wild life generally benefiting from having large managed habitats and if there was no revenue from organised fieldsports vast areas of prime habitat would dissappear, this i hasten to add is not my view. But and here we come to the whole issue really if you want to achieve anything you have to have a structure and finance so i sincerely hope all concerced contribute through membership subscriptions. I hear so much negativity about the rspb and do not at a personnal level agree with everything they do, eg ruddy duck and shooting access on certain reserves etc, but they are the best we have so everyone join pay your subs because these organisations are the only ones our political masters take even the slightest notice of and remember the tories are coming next.
I will be back with the info as promised but try an email to your mp, see what happens, do not just moan on here, get up and do something positive, let them know how angry you are. Try the minister for the enviroment spend an hour writing indignant emails to people who rely on your vote and support,

A VERY ANGRY AND DISMAYED Terry Whalin

To add to the discussion, Woodcock are one of the dozen or so species included in Part 1 of Schedule 2 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act which can be killed or taken outside the close season! It's alright condemning the shooting of Woodcock but the only way to get it changed is by Act of Parliament - lobbying by conservation bodies such as the RSPB and letters to your local MP are a start. Whether you like it or not, commercial shooting is big business in this part of the world. In defence of some of the shooting fraternity, I know that 2 of the biggest commercial wold shooting estates have a self imposed complete ban on the shooting of Woodcock, Snipe and Hares. That's a another start!

I had a very difficult and frank exchange of views with the Humberside area RSPB managers primarily about the future of the Humberside developments, Donna Nook, eg access watcher friendly enviroment, the future of Tetney in those plans. Well to summerise everything really it all comes down to funding as always. Those whom do not in my view subscribe to such organisations have no grounds to complain or moan about others attempts to achieve a better enviroment. The same applies to the Woodcock situation, Stuart is perfectly correct in the fact it will take an act of parliament to change the situation. Emails to mps will probably only get a new survay done on the sustainability of the current situation ( re Alex's document ) and would perhaps result in a new scientific study being undertaken ( this of cause takes many years ). So your last best hope is like them or not is the RSPB and all these representations do not come free of charge. I myself whilst not agreeing with some of the policies carried out by the RSPB believe that you can only change things from the inside of an organisation and have been a member for 32 years. In fact i choose to pay a fellowship fee instead of just a members fee. This fee is 2.5 times the membership fee and i pay it gladly so that at least someone is fighting for the general direction that you wish to go in. I at times get annoyed at some birders who expect everything just to happen and air thier indignance whilst are not being members of any society because they do not agree with this or that when in fact it is just a lame dog excuse for keeping thier hands firmly in thier pockets. I am not saying this knowingly against any member of this forum it is just a general thing i come across now and then. So rememeber everyone agrees i think that the Woodcock situation was indeed diabolical, then what is the way forward in a positive direction, who is going to do something about it, who is going to pay for it, or once again do we do nothing. How many people will actually be prepared to spend time in the months to come to do something through email etc and then next year look in the mirror and say i tried. Not many i think, so make sure you are part of a society that at least tries to do the right thing.

Terry Whalin RSPB group leader humberside

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