ST201902

W

hen you fill up your bird feeders in

winter, there’s always a hope that

you’ll attract something more

exciting than loads of blue tits and a

clumsy pigeon on a raid. And that’s

where the great spotted woodpecker

comes in. That’ll be the great (never greater) and probably

not the lesser, which is twice as small and twice as rare.

Striking and stylishly monochrome with a splash or two

of red and a dagger of a beak, this is the bird that, if there’s a

patch of woodland nearby, arrives with a f lourish in your

garden on a cold afternoon. Watch it from your window

(warmer, too), as the moment you open the back door it will

be off – although it’s worth disturbing for a dazzling array

of boldly barred black-and-white wings and a dipping,

undulating f light as it makes for the nearest large tree.

Large trees are the most important thing for a great

spotted, which feeds by hammering a branch or trunk to

get at grubs and larvae underneath the bark. And here’s the

most remarkable thing, the thing that elevates it from being

a lovely looking bird to truly magical status: hitting a solid

tree with your beak so hard that splinters f ly ought to cause

something similar to concussion, but woodpeckers have

shock-absorbant tissue between the base of the bill and the

skull, enabling them to make tree hole nests and feed in the

forest canopy. And that’s not all; the roots of their tongues

are coiled around the back of their skulls, so their tongues
can extend to harpoon insect larvae deep inside tunnels.
As spring approaches they start to drum, a reverberating
repeating drum roll that resonates through the woods. It’s
instinctive, they’ve even been recorded drumming on
weather vanes and metal poles (ouch). Take a walk before
the leaves appear, they are easier to spot against bare
branches, though they often hide on the opposite side of a
tree to an observer. Look out for holes high on trunks,
they’ll enlarge those of smaller woodland birds to raise
their own broods and use them for several years.
What’s good news for the great spotted woodpecker –
numbers have grown, possibly because Dutch elm disease
has meant more dead trees for them to feed on – is less good
for other species. They add to their diet in spring with the
nestlings and eggs of smaller birds, pecking their way into
nestboxes (metal plates around the entrance hole can help
or covering them in chicken wire).
It’s starling-sized, so improbably big for hanging off a
peanut feeder or fat block but it uses its stiff tail to keep a
firm grip. This gives you time to work out which you are
watching; the male has a prominent and larger red patch on
the back of the head, while the female has none but younger
birds of both sexes have a ‘red fascinator’ as ornithologist
and illustrator Matt Sewell describes it in Our Woodland
ILLUSTRATION: ZUZA MIŚKO Birds. Personally, I just find them fascinating.

Words:JANEHOLLAND

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FRESH (^) | FEBRUARY NATURE