Richard Collins: Woodpeckers turning up in every Irish county now — have you spotted any?
Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) has been recorded in every Irish county, except Mayo
Finn, my 14-year-old grandson, is a keen 'twitcher'. Visiting Madrid’s El Retiro Park last week, he spotted a green woodpecker.
This exotic species, with its bright red head and yellow rump, is common throughout most of Europe. The Spanish bird, however, is somewhat different from its counterparts elsewhere; it lacks the black face-mask of its cousins and the adult male’s red ‘moustaches’ are different. These characteristics led to the green woodpecker of Spain and Portugal being deemed a ‘sub-species’. Then, in 2001, following mitochondrial DNA analysis, the Iberian green woodpecker was given ’species’ status.
Green woodpeckers don’t migrate — "individual movements above 20km are unusual" according to the authoritative . The great barrier of the Pyrenees, no doubt, kept Spanish ones from mating with their French cousins. Going their separate way, to paraphrase Charlie Haughey, they were free to develop Iberian solutions to Iberian problems.
Despite being rather shy, the European green species has a high profile. Bird-folklore expert, Francesca Greenoak, lists no less than 44 names of the bird in England alone. It’s sometimes called the ‘yaffle’, in imitation of its loud advertising call.
Great communicators, territorial and aggressive towards intruding neighbours, green woodpeckers produce loud calls and display colourful wing and crown feathers. Unlike other members of the tribe, the green species rarely ‘drums’; it prefers to communicate vocally and visually. The bill is not particularly strong, being more suited to chiselling on soft wood, than drilling into it. Nesting holes are reused from year to year. The bird’s tongue, wide at the tip and with a sticky fly-paper-like texture, can extend up to 10cm, drawing ants from their colonies. The insects fight back, sometimes forcing their tormentor to retreat.
Woodpecker species, generally, have shunned Ireland. 'There are no woodpeckers here' was a frequent refrain until recently, but they featured prominently in cartoons and their image appeared on the labels of a well-known cider brand.
Bones unearthed in archaeological ‘digs’ showed that another species, the great-spotted, was here in Medieval times. It likes broad-leaved woods. As Ireland became almost completely denuded of its trees, conditions here no longer suited it. ‘Cad a dhéanaimid feasta gan adhmad’ might be the great-spotted’s anthem. Then, in the mid-20th Century, things began to change; great-spotteds decided to take another look at us. Increased number of ‘vagrants’ were recorded here, although somewhat erratically, each winter. There were good and bad ‘woodpecker years’.
Mornin’.
— The Bee Guy (@the_beeguy) May 29, 2023
Take 40 seconds with this great spotted woodpecker male tapping away on our feeder just now on The Bee Sanctuary of Ireland.
At least four different individuals visiting the feeder at the moment.
A privilege to observe.#greatspottedwoodpecker #birds #nature #bees pic.twitter.com/aQATHDAUpb
In 2006, adults with a youngster were seen in County Down. Birds were present in two other Irish counties that summer. In 2009, seven occupied nests were found in Wicklow. According to the National Biodiversity Data Centre, great-spotted woodpeckers have now been reported from every Irish county.
A few green woodpeckers were shot in Ireland during the 19th Century but the bird doesn’t visit us nowadays. Its absence is usually ascribed to a scarcity of ants, the green woodpecker’s favourite food. We have around 20 ant species. Britain has more than 50. A study in 1975 found that seven young woodpeckers consumed about 1.5 million ants while still in the nest.
It seems unlikely that the green woodpecker, an ant-addicted gourmand, will set up shop here any time soon, but we should always expect the unexpected.
