I think they are Woodcock there were 7 of them together I couldn't believe my eyes..

Thank you all I have sent the photographs to the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust who have been monitoring Woocock with a tracking project.

I have to say they're really surprising! Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, you would've been exactly right, a long-billed bird in the garden during snowy weather is almost always a woodcock. It's not that unusual in weather like this: they need to be able to probe the soil for worms and are tempted into gardens where frosts tend to be a little less severe.

However, these are not woodcock but common snipe. Had I not seen the photo, I would definitely have matched the description to a woodcock. Snipe are not necessarily rare, but seeing one, let alone seven, in a garden is very unusual. They are usually a bird of bogs, wetlands or wet moors/heaths. Do you have that sort of habitat nearby? They are obviously suffering for the same reason as woodcock do - their usual feeding sites must be frozen solid. If they are still with you, there's not much you can offer them in the way of food unfortunately, only provide somewhere quiet to wait out the freeze.

I have heard back from an ecologist at GWCT and am very surprised not Woodcock but Snipe my first impression but one I dismissed because it would be strange to see them in a garden setting..
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