This is the time of year when you’re most likely to see, or more likely hear, evidence of Woodpeckers in or around your garden. There are three species of Woodpecker in the UK, two of which, the Great Spotted Woodpecker and the Green Woodpecker, can be active and visible in gardens. The third, the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, resides in mature woodland and is seen much less often.
Great Spotted Woodpeckers (the size of a blackbird or starling) are often heard before they are seen, distinguished by their distinctive ‘chip-chip’ call or loud drumming. These black and white birds are frequent visitors to our garden bird feeders.
Green Woodpeckers are more likely to be seen in larger gardens, especially those with a big lawn. It is the largest Woodpecker in the UK - bigger in size than a blackbird. These Woodpeckers are usually spied on the ground in grassy habitats or garden lawns searching for ants, using their strong beak to dig into ant colonies. They have a recognisable loud, laughing call known as a ‘yaffle’.
At this time of year, Woodpeckers are in the midst of breeding season. The Great Spotted Woodpecker’s beak plays a key role in its breeding behaviour. Males use it to hammer against trees, making a drumming sound which warns off any rivals to the territory. Drumming is most effective when a dead hollow branch is used as this empty cavity makes more noise. Behaviour like this would cause brain damage among most birds, but these Woodpeckers have a shock-absorbing skull, made of strong but compressible sponge like bone. This means they are not adversely affected by the impact. The speed of the tapping can reach an amazing forty hits per second! The Great Spotted Woodpecker's beak is also used to excavate a nesting cavity within a tree. Once the hole is ready, four to six eggs are laid inside between April and June (1-3 clutches per year). They hatch after around two weeks and chicks spend just over three weeks in the nest before fledging.
As well as a mighty beak, the Great Spotted Woodpecker has an extraordinarily long sticky tongue, an incredible device for collecting small grubs and larvae from crevices in tree trunks. The tongue can extend up to 4cm beyond the tip of the bill and is so long that it has to be curled up in a sheath extending from the back of the bill over the rear of the bird’s skull.
So how can we encourage these amazing birds into our gardens? Great Spotted Woodpeckers don't usually damage healthy trees, so if you have dead trees and logs in the garden, it's great to leave them, both as a potential nesting site and also to house the wood-boring insects that the Woodpeckers like to eat. During the winter, Great Spotted Woodpeckers can be seen at bird feeders, so keep your feeders topped up with peanuts, sunflower seeds and fat balls during the colder months. If you have a lawn in your garden, leaving areas of long grass for ants and insects will create an ideal habitat for Green Woodpeckers.
Male Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major
Photo: Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)