Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major )
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos minor)
Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis)

	Great Spotted Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Green Woodpecker (illustration courtesy of Dan Powell)

There’s something about a drumming Woodpecker that catches the imagination, lifts the spirit and stirs the soul as the sound reverberates through the New Forest’s ancient woodlands. Deep, resonant, rhythmic: it’s all of these and more.

Fierce beaks hit solid, bark-free timber, conjuring images of primeval forests undisturbed by man, each burst of multiple blows delivered at great speed, the Woodpecker’s warning to competitors, and mating call combined.

Britain has three resident Woodpecker species: the Great Spotted Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and the Green Woodpecker, all of which are found in the New Forest.

Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are primarily woodland birds that drum quite a lot from late-winter through to the mid- or late-spring, whilst Green Woodpeckers prefer more open places with scattered trees, and hardly drum at all.

Once fittingly known as pied woodpeckers, Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are, predictably, black and white interspersed with variable patches of scarlet, depending on whether male, female or juvenile.

Great Spotted Woodpeckers are Blackbird-sized and have a broad white shoulder patch, whilst Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are sparrow-sized and have white horizontal barring to back and wings, a characteristic reflected in their country name - the barred woodpecker.    

The Green Woodpecker is the largest of the three. Unmistakable greeny-yellow, it has contrasting crimson crown and dark moustache, and, rather than drum, it has an unmistakable, loud, far carrying, raucous laughing cry that gave it its country name - the yaffle. Also known as the rain-bird, it used to be said that Green Woodpeckers were more inclined to call before impending rain, but more likely, the sound simply carries further in the atmospheric conditions immediately before rainfall.

To help grip vertical surfaces, Woodpeckers are specially equipped with strong, muscular legs; long, incredibly sharp claws; and, most unusually, two backward and two forward facing toes on each foot.

Stiffened, pointed tail feathers serve as a prop to aid stability as the Woodpeckers clamber up trunks and along boughs, but, unlike Nuthatches, they have great difficulty in travelling downwards, and can very occasionally be seen attempting the manoeuvre in a series of awkward, ungainly backward hops.

	Great Spotted Woodpecker male

The drumbeats of Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are also quite similar, although those of the latter are more prolonged, higher pitched, considerably softer and not so far carrying. Confusion can arise, however, even amongst the Woodpeckers, for sometimes drumming by one species stimulates activity in the other, leading to somewhat one-side competition.

As spring progresses, drumming frequency and intensity reduce as pairs settle down to raise a family.

All New Forest Woodpeckers are hole-nesters that excavate their own cavities. Around six or seven eggs are laid onto, at best, a scant bed of wood chippings, and as nature has decreed for many hole-nesting birds, these when first laid are pure white - there is little need for anti-predator camouflage, whilst white eggs are more likely to be noticed by potentially clumsy parents.

In all three species, both sexes incubate for around two weeks, and the youngsters fledge after another three weeks. Whilst in the nest, the young attract attention with increasingly raucous calls as siblings compete for every morsel brought back by frenzied parents.

Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are fed primarily on a variety of insects, whilst Green Woodpeckers are particularly fond of ants extracted from their lair by the parent’s unusually long tongue. Young Great Spotted Woodpeckers, too, are fed on insects, although other bird’s eggs are also occasionally brought back for them.

Nowadays, the Great Spotted Woodpecker is considered the most abundant, both locally and nationally. Indeed, the British Trust for Ornithology suggests that Great Spotted Woodpecker numbers have increased considerably in recent years, whilst Lesser Spotted Woodpecker numbers have reduced.

The reasons for change are unclear, although almost alone amongst the three, great spotted woodpeckers increasing come into gardens to feed, which maybe helps survival rates.

But for now, we can appreciate all three species here in the New Forest.

References:
The Shell Guide to the Birds of Britain and Ireland: James Ferguson-Lees, Ian Willis and J.T.R. Sharrock
The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Concise Edition: D.W. Snow and C.M. Perrins
The New Forest: Its History and Scenery: John R. Wise.
All the Birds of the Air: Francesca Greenoak