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Amazingly, a few months ago a bird uncommon in London was stunned as it flew into the back window of Furzedown resident Francis. Below is a statement from her, about what happened that day:
“My son Stanley and I were sat in our rear living room and heard a bang on the glazed patio door. We recognised the sound as that of a bird strike. We went outside and saw this peculiar looking brown bird with long a beak that we did not recognise. The bird was clearly dazed and confused and it's right wing was limp and out of position. I asked my son to get a towel and we covered it completely and held it in a firm cup position to give it warmth and help it recover. Whilst we held it we searched the internet and found two similar birds... we initially thought it may be a Snipe. After a good 10 minutes we uncovered the bird while still holding it and after a small head stroke and a few pictures we took the towel off. The Woodcock ran around on the ground for a bit, presumably getting its bearings and then flew off directly to the West. The following day we checked it with our neighbour Mike who is an old school twitter who confirmed it as a Woodcock.”
Woodcocks are wading birds, commonly found in lowland areas near water. It may seem shocking that a bird of this description would be flying into windows in London, but sadly this is becoming much more of a common occurrence. Over the last few years there have been multiple reports to the RSPB of Woodcocks being found dead in London’s parks and gardens.
These birds are attracted to cities by their bright lights, and often fly off course because of this. They also get incredibly confused by glass doors and windows mistaking them for open sky. This has led to an increasing number of collisions, and often death of individuals in this species. Luckily, this local Woodcock was able to eventually fly off relatively unscathed!
As residents of London, there are a few things that we can do to prevent non-local birds flying into our doors and windows. The RSPB recommends attaching an object of any kind, to the glass in order to break up the area and make birds aware that the glass is not open sky. These birds are of conservation concern in the UK, so it is important that we do all we can to help protect the population numbers of this intriguing species.
Although a really interesting story, I hope that we do not receive any more like this so we know that Woodcocks are staying in their natural habitats, unaffected by the hazards that cities pose.
Thank you Francis for submitting this story!
If you are interested in finding out a bit more about this species, have a look here: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/woodcock/