It is weirdly very beautiful!…also known as “The Snipe of The Woods”!!
It is rare – only some 50,000 Native Pairs in the UK!
It is very private – to the point of being reclusive, until disturbed!
Very Loyal to it’s home / breeding territory
Has a unique mating ritual called “Roding”
Is extremely “sporting” in that it flies fast and in a jagged / jinking motion
It is also Tasty! A cross between a partridge and a grouse!
Like Grouse, It cannot, as far as I know, be reared and released like pheasant or partridge. So once it is gone it is GONE!!
It can open the tip of it’s beak to snare a worm when the whole beak is underground!
Finally – and possibly most interesting point of all – it reputedly carries it’s young in flight when disturbed! between its legs or on its back! This has been witnessed by many “Countrymen” but never captured on film! I know of no other bird which does this!
