The Lincolnshire Bird Club

A Woodcock flew low over my head across the prom at Trusthorpe Point this afternoon,flew out to sea and briefly settled on the water for about 10 seconds.
It then flew off Northwards.
I know most waders can swim but is this unusual behaviour for Woodcocks?
I have searched Google and the only reference to swimming Woococks is here:
http://oslobirder.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/woodcock.html

That's interesting. Did it labour to take off or was it quite an easygoing procedure?

Perhaps continental birds routinely take a breather on the sea en route to us in winter.

On the subject of woodcocks, I once found a dead bird on the pavement outside Grimsby Central Library - I assume the victim of a collision but it was in good nick.

I took it to a taxidermist in Alford. I wonder what happened to it. He gave me the impression that there wasn't much of a market for stuffed woodocks, so it's probably still in his freezer.

Hello Jim,
It seemed quite comfortable on the water as if it had done it before, even though the sea was quite rough at the time.
I also wondered if Woodcocks stopped on the sea for a rest when migrating after seeing this one.
I wondered if maybe it was bathing?

For swimming woodcock (and other waders), it must be a disadvantage not to have webbed feet.

I expect that somewhere there's a learned paper discussing the phenomenon.