In January a report was posted on the Carmarthenshire Bird Club website of 10 woodcock being recorded at Cynghordy. Ten were found in 2.5 hours one night when birds were being surveyed. Six birds were caught and of these two had rings from last year. These two birds were caught in exactly the same field as they were caught last winter. In between they have been all the way to Finland/Russia but they found their way back to exactly same field – an amazing feat of navigation.

Woodcock are hard to see – they are superbly camouflaged and rest up on the floor of the woodland where their large eyes, set back on the sides of their heads, give them 360° vision. They feed at night and so are generally only seen during the day when disturbed, flying up at the last moment, swerving deftly through the trees. They use their long bills to probe soft ground for earthworms,insects and their larvae.

Resident birds are joined by thousands more that overwinter here from the northern and eastern Europe