Green Woodpecker
Picus viridis
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Distribution Britain 1,555 (-4.1%) Ireland 0
Numbers breeding: Britain 15,000 ++ Ireland 0 European status: 670,000 (2% in Britain and Ireland =9) British population trend: increasing (+15% CBC){+92%} How likely are you to record it? 1197 squares (26.7%) Ranked 39 |
The loud, cheerful, ringing call of the Yaffle is a characteristic sound of open woodland, parkland and much farmland where there is a scattering of mature trees. The birds do not find much of their food from old wood, preferring to feed on ants — even clearing away snow to get at them. From being a breeding bird throughout England and Wales and into Scotland as far as Perth it retreated in the first half of the 19th century. None bred in Scotland after 1850 and it became rare in northern England — possibly related to trophy shooting. In the 20th century it re-colonised some northern counties — in the east by 1935 and the west a bit later. Breeding was proved in Scotland in 1951 (suspected rather earlier) and the spread through the country was pretty rapid. The lowlands were well colonised by the time of the first Breeding Atlas and they had reached the Black Isle, the Great Glen and Kintyre by the second with later records from as far north and west as Mull. They have never bred in Ireland. All is not gain. The birds have also been lost from areas of Cornwall, West Wales and much of Dumfries. They can be badly affected by cold winter weather and so may benefit from global warming. Recent population index information from the CBC and BBS is encouraging. Prospects seem good but western decline a bit of a worry.
The following Bird On! pictures are available:
Green Woodpecker (Watercolour by Robert Gillmor)
The following Bird On! sketch is available:
From
The
State of the Nations Birds
Copyright © 2000 by Chris Mead