Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2017 | Page 78

Country life
10 things you didn’t know
about woodpeckers
In the bare branches of our
woodlands, great spotted
woodpeckers are drumming -
beating out the rhythm of the
season. Here’s the Wildlife Trust’s
guide to 10 things you probably
didn’t know about these
amazing birds.
• The most common species of woodpecker found in our
woods is the great spotted woodpecker. Their cousins include
the green woodpecker (which only colonised the Isle of Wight
in 1910) and smaller, rarer cousin lesser spotted woodpecker.
• They’re very easy to spot in woodland like the Wildlife Trust’s
Bouldnor Forest nature reserve - they have black and white
plumage, and a large red patch under the tail. You can tell
males apart from females by the scarlet patch on the back of
the necks.
• Both male and female great spotted woodpeckers ‘drum’,
although the male definitely puts more into it, advertising for
a mate and proclaiming his territory – as well as looking for
tasty insects in tree trunks.
• He hammers away at his favourite branch
in bursts of up to 20 times per second
with a force four times as strong as
that of a football being kicked by
Wayne Rooney.
• The force can reach an
incredible 1000G - for a
human, that would be more
than enough to knock you
unconscious and cause major
brain damage, if not worse.
• The bones of the woodpecker’s skull
have evolved a durable combination of
spongy ‘shock absorbers’, powerful neck
muscles, and a specially-adapted tongue
bone that acts as a ‘seat belt’, holding the
brain tightly in place!
• Woodpeckers have a translucent third
eyelid to stop all that sawdust getting into
their eyes.
• Woodpeckers are tree-climbing experts, and
use their tail to anchor themselves to the sides of
trees as they search for insects.
• Spot woodpeckers by wrapping up warm, and go out
into the woodlands near you on a still, clear day. Wildlife
Trust reserves like Bouldnor Forest near Yarmouth, and
Martin’s Wood near Newchurch are good places to listen out
for the quick-fire drumming.
• Alternatively woodpeckers have been known to visit
gardens, so keep your feeders topped up with peanuts, and
your eyes peeled.
Photo: Great Spotted Woodpecker by Darin Smithl
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