I went a bit offpiste(got lost) around the Devils Punchbowl yesterday and disturbed a very unusual looking bird up out of the undergrowth in front of me. It was dark brown , short and stocky with a strikingly long thin downward curved beak-was a clumsy flier too .
Any ideas what it could be-only thing close that google shows me is indeed a Kiwi.
Ta

Curlew?

Woodcock?

Curlew? X 2

They are known up,there..

Any call?

Glossy Ibis.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=glossy+ibis+uk&rlz=1C1GGRV_enGB751GB751&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi339eIg47VAhVBAcAKHVhgDEMQ_AUICygC&biw=1242&bih=580#imgrc=jstVJpeXKnJnCM:

Theyr’e not very big.

Been cycling in the area for nearly 30 years – never encountered a curlew in the area, they are as big as a pheasant and give a very distinctive call – more likely to be a woodcock

snigger

‘Cept Woodcock have a straight bill, not a downward curved one. Could be a glossy ibis, but there are few around, not sure if there are any over there.

Glossy Ibis on the Avalon Marshes.

Could be a glossy ibis,

I said it fi-irst na na na na naa! 😉

I said it fi-irst na na na na naa!

I wasn’t disagreeing, it’s just I had a few photos of one of the birds at Shapwick Heath already in Photobucket.

I wasn’t disagreeing, it’s just I had a few photos of one of the birds at Shapwick Heath already in Photobucket.

I’ve never even seen one! but my mate who’s a proper twitcher, put some photo’s on FB of one he saw in Cornwall.
Where’s Shapwick Heath CZ?

THere’s plenty of Woodcock around the punchbowl, and flying up out of out of the ground cover when disturbed is their favourite trick

I’ve never seen a Woodcock either, doubt if I will if people keep shooting them. I know theyr’e a game bird (fnaar fnaar) but theyr’e hardly common, in decline actually…

https://www.gwct.org.uk/research/species/birds/woodcock/

Thanks for the replies peeps,I reckon out of all these the Woodcock has it-looked just like these could of sworn it had curved beak but maybe I was just as scared and startled as it was -I only saw it briefly as it popped up straight in front of me and plopped over and down into the brambles just a bit further in front.

Was it any of these?

Shapwick and Ham Wall are both part of the greater nature reserve of the Avalon Marshes close to Glastonbury, I’ve got photos taken close to where I took the photos of the ibis, but in the opposite direction with the Tor included.
They have something in the order of forty male bustards booming during mating season, great white egrets, the glossy ibis, which the day I was there someone had said they’d seen earlier, but it had probably moved on, then when I got down to the observation platform for the starlings I went to check out another observation area close by and it was pecking away about three feet away! First time I’d ever seen one, I didn’t even know they were in the UK.

This is definitely the little ‘smooth criminal’ I saw,come to think of it I may of disturbed him from his moonwalking practice 😀 Moonwalker

Thanks for the replies peeps,I reckon out of all these the Woodcock has it-looked just like these could of sworn it had curved beak but maybe I was just as scared and startled as it was -I only saw it briefly as it popped up straight in front of me and plopped over and down into the brambles just a bit further in front.

Woodcock and snipe are both very fast flying birds, I’ve only ever seen one woodcock which flew along the top of a hedge just the other side of a fence bordering the car park of a place I worked at, looking out over open country, and my view was brief indeed.
Checking the usual habitat, it’s almost certainly a woodcock, as the name suggests they are a woodland bird, the snipe is a mudflat bird; it’s bill has nerve sensors right to the tip, allowing it to sense invertebrates buried in the mud.

Sounds like a top spotting spot CZ! We’ve had Spoonbills breeding up North at Fairburn & a Sabine’s Gull at Nosterfield, a bit further North still. Great Egret also at St Aidans near Castleford (shithole) & Little Egrets all over!

Woodcock are very difficult to shoot due to their fast flight, I’d be quite surprised if a decline in numbers was due to shooting. Much more likely to be due to habitat loss and other factors,

Woodcock are very difficult to shoot due to their fast flight, I’d be quite surprised if a decline in numbers was due to shooting. Much more likely to be due to habitat loss and other factors,

They’re easily disturbed/caught by dogs a bit quicker than my dopey terrier. THeir habitat round here is prime Surrey dog walking country.

As long as they’re not ground nesting, else NE will be all over the place and shut it down.

It’s pretty good, covers a huge area, mind, with relatively few ways to access the deeper sections. Gets very busy in the winter with lots coming down for the starling murmerations.
I’ve stood behind a big bunch of people at one of the main observation points, with everyone looking out across the water, when a bustard has flown slowly across behind them, and I think I was one of only half a dozen people who saw it!
I’d actually seen three that day, but that was very lucky.
If you ever get down that way, the car park is at Ashcott Corner, south of Meare.

The blue areas marked don’t really give a clue to how big an area the reserve covers, it goes either side of the road down from Meare.

Ah, I was thinking of a different sort of bird.

Anyhow, ask her to count to seven. If she says sex or sux for six, she’s definitely a KIwi.