Uncommon passage migrant and winter visitor that formerly bred.

Woodcocks were uncommon in Britain until around 1820, during the following 10 or 20 years they had spread to breed throughout Britain. This increase was probably as a result of the protection of woodland where Pheasants (Phasianus colchis) were nesting. They are now in decline, but the cause is unknown. In Hertfordshire the decline has been noted since 1981.

The earliest record of Woodcock at Stevenage comes from the Game Book of Colonel Unwin-Heathcote of Shephalbury Manor when one was shot at Ridlins Wood on 8 January 1894. Single birds were subsequently shot at, Monks Wood (17 January and 24 October 1894), Half Hyde (1 November and 5 December 1895), Astonbury (26 December 1895) and, Humley (Whomerley) Wood (31 October 1898).

Foster (1914) stated that the Woodcock, “occurs regularly in woods near Stevenage”.

In the 1960s they were recorded from: Astonbury Wood, (1969) Box Wood (1965, 1967, 1968, 1969) and Watery Grove (1967).

During the 1970s they were recorded from (with unusual records): Ashtree Wood 1979; Astonbury Wood 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978 (one flew into conifers presumably to settle for the night 6 February 1976, five flushed during a Squirrel shoot on 18 March 1978); Box Wood 1970, 1975, 1976, 1979; Chells 1978; “Chells” Wood 1979; John Lewis Warehouse (now Costco) 1977; Martins Wood 1976; Pin Green 1979; Shephall 1978 (one sitting in a back garden on 16 November 1978), Symonds Green 1975, 1979 (one in a flooded horse field on 14 December 1979); Watery Grove 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979; Whomerley Wood 1974.

In the 1980s they were recorded from (with unusual records): Box Wood 1980, 1987; Chells 1981 (where one was seen in a garden on 6 February 1981); Monkswood Way 1988 (two seen on the water meadow at the old college, now the Asda Car Park, spring 1988); Norton Green Tip 1989; Pin Green 1989; Shephall 1989; Stevenage Football Ground, Broadhall Way 1981 (one flying over the pitch before a game on 14 March 1981); Watery Grove 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989.

During the 1990s records came from: Astonbury Wood 1994; Monks Wood 1998; Watery Grove 1990, 1994, 1999.

Between 2000 and 2009 records came from: Astonbury Wood (where three were seen on 4 December 2004); Fairlands Valley Lakes (one 31 October 2006); Fishers Green (one flying north 19 March 2005); Great Ashby Way (one flushed off waste ground on 23 December 2000); Norton Green (one 22 March 2006 and 2 January 2008); Watery Grove (“roding” bird 14 May 2005).

The records from between 2010 and 2019 came from: Aston Allotments (one flying over 17 March 2013); Box Wood (25 March 2016); Broaches Wood (28 January 2010); Chesfield Park (25 November 2017);  Fairlands Valley Lakes (27 February 2019); Gresley Way (one flying over into Pryors Wood 19 December 2010); Norton Green Tip (15 and 26 October 2014, 17 January 2015, 25 March 2015); Parsons Green Wood (9 May 2015); Six Hills Way/Caxton Way (flying over 2 December 2012); Stevenage Football Ground, Broadhall Way (one landed in the goalmouth during a match on 7 December 2019); Tilekiln Wood (3 December 2014, 21 November 2019); Warren Springs (three seen in woodland edge bordering the A1 M of the GSK site 28 November 2012); Whomerley Wood (near the Moat 13 April 2018); three flushed on private land on the outskirts of Stevenage November 2012; one found dead under a garden gate 14 March 2018.

The records since 2020 are: One at Norton Green Tip on 22 February 2020, one at Watery Grove on 5 November 2020, one at Fairlands Valley on 9 November 2020, two at Monks Wood on 23 November 2020, one at Whomerley Wood on 8 March 2021 and one at Norton Green Tip on 5 January 2023.

The 1973 Breeding Atlas confirmed breeding from the tetrad covering Norton Green and considered breeding as probable from the tetrads covering Boxbury Farm and Chells Manor. The 1992 Atlas considered breeding as probable from the tetrad covering Norton Green. The 2012 Atlas did not consider breeding from Stevenage.

The 2012 Winter Atlas confirmed their presence from four of the tetrads covering Stevenage.

Common Bird Census at Watery Grove recorded their presence in 1972, 1978, 1984, 1987, 1993, 1994 and 1997 and as holding one territory in 1974.