On a warm spring morning, our woods and hedgerows resound to the sound o drumming. The insistant musician is a medium-sized black and white bird with a flash of bright red at the rear of his head and under his tail. He is a great spotted woodpecker and is loudly declaring his ownership of a territory to any female or rival willing to listen . . .
It was not always thus: they are at the edge of their range in the British Isles and completely absent from Ireland. Indeed, until 120 years ago they were missing from Scotland and much of Wales.
This is because woodpeckers are insectivores and vulnerable to winter weather when their natural diet is increasingly hard to find. At such points they will turn to protein-rich alternatives like nuts, but these are scarce in the British winter countryside. This was particularly so when our tree cover hit an all-time low of 5% at the end of the 19th century.
The foundation of the Forestry Commission after the First World War came to the birds’ aid, but the recent spate of mild winters coupled with the trend to garden bird feeding, is probably more important. Whatever the reasons, great spotted woodpeckers have fared extremely well over the past few decades with numbers and range expanding dramatically.
The birds live up to their name by digging insects out of rotten wood with their powerful bills, but the characteristic drumming heard over the coming months is a territorial display, rather than a search for food. This consists of a rapid series of about 16 blows delivered in less than a second on a particularly resonant branch. For years scientists argued this must be a call rather than hammering because of inevitable brain-damage to the bird, but we now know there is a soft patch of tissue between beak and brain to absorb the impact.
This and its distinctive ‘tchik’ calls mean it is usually not too difficult to track down this shy bird. When seen, its bold black and white plumage is striking (along with the males’s scarlet crest), but the large red flash under the tail distinguishes it from its smaller and rarer relative, the lesser spotted woodpecker.
The female lays one clutch of eggs in early summer in a cavity that she digs out of a tree. Birch and oaks are the preferred choice, but they also choose fruit trees and suitable nest boxes are readily tenanted. Once they hatch, the young frequently betray the nest site by their incessant clamouring for food. Most of this comes in the form of foliage caterpillars and larvae hacked out of rotten wood, but they are not above helping themselves to the eggs and chicks of songbirds.
Despite these murderous tendencies, great spotted woodpeckers are one of the most welcome visitors to the garden bird table. Although naturally shy, they occur almost everywhere and can often be lured in by selective feeding – particularly during cold snaps. They are less interested in standard seed mixes than most birds, but high-calorie feeds like suet, cheese and peanuts will often entice them to visit suburban gardens regularly. One nice trick is to get a small log (preferably birch) and drill holes all over it. Melt suet in a pan and pour carefully into the holes. When set, hang this near your kitchen window – it will give both woodpeckers and you hours of amusement.
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