Tuesday 25 January 2011

Great Spotted Woodpecker...................................

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)
Female
Male
Female
Green Woodpecker

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

We have three Woodpeckers in the UK . The Green Woodpecker has a lovely laughing call giving it the nickname of Yaffle. The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is a much rarer bird to see as it is only the size of a sparrow and usually feeds quite high up in the trees. By far the easiest to see on my patch is the Great Spotted Woodpecker. It is quite a common bird locally and although I have seen all three in the Cheshire woodlands this is the only one I have managed to get images of as it will come to feeders. The male is identified from the female by his red nape patch and at this time of year I often hear them drumming on the trees in my local woods making them fairly easy to track down.

23 comments:

Modesto Viegas said...

Good series!

holdingmoments said...

The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is one I'd love to see Andrew.
Good captures of the woody on the nuts.

Dave said...

Nice sequence of nice visitors Andrew. Good background info on our species too.

Lesser Spotted is high on my wanted list, I really want a self found one but I guess will be happy to see one soon if you can point me in the right direction...lol

Dave

Unknown said...

Beautiful close ups, Andrew, of a very attractive looking woodpecker.I'd sure love to see a green. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River.

grammie g said...

Hi Andrew...Very nice photos and additional information..he looks like he working hard to find the right way to get what he wants!!
There is 9 woodpeckers here in Maine..
The Hairy,Red Headed,Downy,Pileated,which I see regularly :the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker and the Northern Flicker which I usually don't place in that family but are!
Then there is the American Three-toed ,Black Backed and the Red bellied which I don't think I have seen before !! Whew! sorry about that.. to much rambling lol :}}

Hilke Breder said...

Nice capture! I photographed the Great Spotted W on a trip to Germany a couple of years ago - was in a park near the bottom of a tree. Of course with only occasional visits no chance to see the other two.

mick said...

Nice photos of the Woodpecker.

Sondra said...

Dont you love the fact that we can bring them TO US with the seed n such? Super photos!

Springman said...

Wow,Great capture! I sure would like to see a photo of the Green woodpecker! I love the drawings too, has digital photo made this facet of Art less common? If it has then its a shame.

Jason Bugay Reyes said...

Nice Andrew !

Show me your feeder when I come again this year in August heheheh

Dave said...

Great shots of the Spotted WP! I am sooo jealous. We spent two weeks in the U.K. and that was one of our target birdies...which we never spotted. Ha, that's a pun!

Martha Z said...

He's quite the acrobat.

Sally in WA said...

How lucky you get to see these woodpeckers!

Don Wood said...

Níce shots, we occasionally get one on our feeders and it is always a joy to see. Great captures.

Adam Tilt said...

Great shots. Green Woodpeckers are the common ones around my house as we have predominantly farmland. I would love to see a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

Empty Nester said...

Excellent shots! Reminds me of the hairy woodpecker we get in our yard!

Anonymous said...

Nice series of woodpecker shots!

Becky said...

I have a fondness for Woodpeckers, and it is always nice to see different kinds. Beautiful birds!
B.

Small City Scenes said...

Excellent shots. Great detail. MB

me ann my camera said...

The photo of the Green Woodpecker is lovely! We have woodpeckers visit our feeding area almost daily,but not as attractive as your green one, or the others which you have posted. Most of my walking is done in the wintertime on an indoor walking track and most of my outdoor birding in the winter is doine by car ior through the windows of my house into our feeder area.
Ann

Johnny Nutcase said...

cool bird! I'm a fan of all woodpeckers. :)

Unknown said...

He's so beautiful! Great captures.

theconstantwalker said...

Many thanks for all your kind comments. I really do appreciate it.