Just imagine my surprise this morning as I looked out into my garden while eating my breakfast only to see a woodpecker at the nut feeder hanging from the bird table. I've never even seen a woodpecker before. What a thrill this was :D :D :D
I assume it is a Greater Spotted:
(http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/greatspottedwoodpecker_tcm3-20930.jpg)
If so you are lucky - my sister in law has them visiting her garden and they are wonderful to watch.
If it is a Lesser Spotted:
(http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/lesserspottedwoodpecker_tcm3-21045.jpg)
Then you are even luckier and should notify this site (http://www.bto.org/birdtrack/) as they are very rare and all spots are being tracked with an aim to conserving them.
At the park where I had my caravan, there were woods running alongside the river. I saw woodpeckers quite often.
Unfortunately, I also saw two which had managed to hang themselves by getting their heads caught between branches.
So what woodpecker is a BIG woodpecker? We have a woody making a racket in a large tree across the way from our house. Very noisy screetching, and a big size, bigger than the woodies at the allotment!
Looking at the pictures in my bird book it appears to have been a juvenile grey headed
Grey-headed isn't a British bird, though we probably get the occasional wanderer. So unless you live in Central Europe or Scandinavia, I suggest that it was the similar Green Woodpecker, which is common here.
Quite possibly....all I know was that it was beautiful to see and wasn't very distinct in it's markings hence the presumption that it was a baby. I only hope that I see another and that it sits still long enough for me to gather the paparazzi
Possibly a juvenile Green, then; was it vaguely spotted? I'm not fond of those things; they've got a well-earned reputation for destroying beehives in winter.
If it was on the ground it is a green woodpecker. If it was on a feeder then it will be one of the spotted.
Quotejuvenile grey headed
Could also have been a "Wryneck" Related to the Woodpecker family. Got that camouflaged grey with brown wings and barring. likes the ground as well as feeders? :)
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I just saw a Green myself this afternoon; it flew across one of the plots, landed on an ash tree, then flew off into a patch of trees. I saw the yellow bum distinctly, and with the size, shape and the way it flew, it couldn't be anything else. I don't see them often, fortunately!
Now you all have me completely confused. All I can do now is to wait for it to come back again and try and get a piccie then somebody here can ID it for me
Quote from: EJ - Emma Jane on June 28, 2005, 23:45:37
So what woodpecker is a BIG woodpecker? We have a woody making a racket in a large tree across the way from our house. Very noisy screetching, and a big size, bigger than the woodies at the allotment!
If it's screeching, it's probably a jay...(http://www.birdphotography.co.uk/Jay.jpg)
I love Jay's ;D
I wouldn't have said a Jay, however, it could well have been as we have trillions round these parts.....but do Jays hop up the trunk of trees like woodies do?
No, but Green Woodpeckers have a loud 'laughing' call which could be described as a screech.
One of these, then?
(http://www.hlasek.com/foto/picus_viridis_8105.jpg)
Going by your location Emm. It still could have been a "Wryneck"
I think it was a dunnock.
I reakon that must be it, a green woodpecker.
The dunnocks all live in Roy's garden.
it seems all the wood pigeons live in my garden!
well we have peckers in Hull to but i dont think they look like the pictures !
but i dare say lesser spotted ones will have been around !!!
lol
I've seen the greater spotted twice on my pear tree. Aren't they beautiful :)
Someone gave me a birdfeeder the other day as a gift (from Germany) Tall, yellow, plastic tube thing with about four holes with perches. The birds stay away from it in droves and only the doves seem to go near it or the squirrel. Does anyone know why the birds would keep away from it? I;ve put sunflower seeds in for the greenfinches (which we normally get loads of) but no birds visited it so I tried just ordinary wild bird seed and again no takers. I've had to refill my old one. Do you think it's because there is something they don't like about it or just that there's sufficient other food available?
Wardy
How long's it been there? They take time to adjust to anything new.
I got it on 3rd July and put it up right away. Been watching this am and only doves on it again !