BirdGuides f808706f-2850-440d-bc97-6910a5cb9cff Despite being associated with winter in Britain, Eurasian Woodcock is part of the country's breeding avifauna. However, autumn offers perhaps the best chance of seeing this reclusive species as incoming migrant birds make landfall. That said, even the best-trained binoculars have difficulty seeking it out in daylight. Birds are usually flushed from almost underfoot while walking in woodland, but can also be seen performing their display flights – known as 'roding' – at the start of the breeding season. Though highly secretive, Woodcock is fairly common, and despite being in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae, it probably does the least wading of all the British representatives of this group. Setting eyes on a mystery is always memorable, perhaps even more so at dusk in the atmospheric transition between day and night; most of all in the long sunset of early summer. Then, as the light fades and owls begin to call, you can wait for a silhouetted shape to appear. That's when you can witness Woodcock's roding flight, and listen to its unique grunting and squeaking calls.