DETAILS have been released by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust of the migration journeys of two woodcock individuals after having been GPS-tagged in Cornwall.
The birds both migrated to Northern Russia and spent summer in the Republic of Karelia, close to Finland.
The journey pursued by one bird (see fuchsia-coloured route) shows almost identical spring and autumn migration.
By contrast, Blue takes two very different paths. On its northward journey in spring, it favoured a southerly route, flying around the Baltic Sea via Lithuania, Latvia and and Estonia.
On its passage to Britain in autumn, the bird travelled to the north of the Baltic via Finland and Sweden, crossing the sea at the Aland Islands and the Danish island of Laeso.
In both spring and autumn, long sea crossings directly over the Baltic are avoided.
Unusually, however, the final leg of Blue’s autumn migration sees the bird flying west from Denmark and entering Britain on the North Norfolk coast.
Previous research by the GWCT has revealed satellite-tagged birds taking a more continental route, travelling through Germany and the Netherlands and crossing the Channel.
Both Blue and Fuchsia began their autumn migration on the same day, October 24.
Did Blue’s northerly route or Fuchsia’s southerly route prove more efficient?
It appears there’s not much in it - it took both of them six days exactly.
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