The answer is not much, if the woodpecker in question is a wryneck.
We are far more familiar with birds like the great spotted woodpecker. Black and white, hammering out a rythym on a dead tree, or coming to raid our peanut feeders. Or maybe the green woodpecker, with a laughing cry that sits on ouw lawn and digs for ants. You might even be lucky enough to see lesser spotted woodpeckers, looking like dinky versions of the great spotted, and now sadly in decline.
But there is another woodpecker that you might see in the UK. But only very rarely.
The wryneck is a small brown bird, maybe slightly larger than a sparrow. It looks far more like a thrush than a woodpecker and spends most of its time hopping around on the ground. It eats ants and other invertebrates. They used to be found across the UK in parks, orchards and large gardens, but there has been a steady decline so it may well now be they no longer breed in the country. But every year we do get migrating birds visiting, particularly on the east coast.
And currently, we have one visiting.
If you go up on top of the sea bank, behind East Hide, there is a path that runs out towards the mouth of the river Witham. If you follow this path, you are walking between small stunted trees and bushes. And down there, we currently have a wryneck. It has been showing really well, feeding on the ground right in front of watchers.
Reedbed, freshwater scrapes, saltmarsh and wet meadow. Frampton Marsh has it all! Come and pay us a visit soon.