We were blessed by a family of great spotted woodpeckers in our garden during the summer so know what they look like. So surprised to see a new woodpecker in the garden yesterday. It looked like a middle spotted woodpecker but according to all my bird books it doesn't visit Dumfriesshire in Scotland. I took a photo which doesn't show the head too clearly but the plumage on the breast is quite clear and shows it to be a reddish-brown colour. Can anyone confirm my sighting please.
As Robbo said its a GSW..I get them in the garden all year round . This is one of the males
(Pardon the Scottish Accent)
Birds such as Woodpeckers don’t or won’t travel between ocean’s as far as i know. Woodpeckers such as the Black Woodpecker for example are widespread on mainland Europe and right across France as well. But because Britain and Ireland are islands. certain wild birds have never been recorded anywhere in Britain or Ireland because of being separated by the sea from mainland Europe. I’ve never heard of any Black Woodpeckers been recorded in the UK not even once. It’s the same with the Middles Spotted Woodpecker as well. That is one of the sad things of being on an Island. If we weren’t an Island, such birds as I mentioned along with a number of other wild birds, would certainly have started breeding/nesting many years ago in Britain and Ireland, as some wild birds don’t or won’t cross ocean’s and sea’s. That is one of the disadvantages of being an Island, as a number of birds that have expanded there range across Europe, but some wild birds probably won’t cross the sea to the UK. Most wild birds will cross ocean’s and sea’s, but there are some that won’t, or at least very unlikely to do so.
Regards,
Ian.
Just so you can see what a Middle Spotted Woodpecker looks like here's a video from a feeding station in the Czech Republic. As you can it has a very distinctive red crown and different facial markings from a GSW. Only juvenile GSW's have a red crown.
As Thomo has said we don't get them in the UK, more's the pity. As Linda has suggested it maybe that your bird has dirty underparts or perhaps it's even a trick of the light with reflections off your hornbeam/beach hedge leaves.
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Tony
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