Woken by the woodpecker tapping at the window
Woken by the woodpecker tapping at the window
Whenever I’m travelling between Ilkley and Keighley at this time of year I always glance up at the rookery at the roundabout on the Addingham bypass. Last week I was pleased to see signs of activity – nests much bulkier and their proprietors standing bolt upright on guard against stick-thieving neighbours. The breeding season is under way.
A WNS member had dramatic evidence of this recently. Imagine the scene – 6.50am on a Saturday morning and a nice lie-in to look forward to, when the peace is rudely shattered by a loud insistent knocking on the bedroom window.
The unwelcome early caller was a male great spotted woodpecker, enthusiastically dramming on the Velux frame and thus proclaiming his territorial rights on what, for him, must have seemed like a satisfyingly resonant surface. He returned an hour later for an encore. Our naturalist friend has a peanut feeder which is regularly visited by both the male and female great spotted, and they’d obviously been eyeing up the local amenities.
These are the commonest of our three local woodpecker species, about blackbird size, with smart black and white plumage and, in the case of the male, a red patch at the back of the head. They are now regular visitors to garden bird feeders and, if our friend is lucky, she may be entertained in a few months time by the sight of a parent bird teaching one or two juveniles how to use her peanut feeder.
The lesser-spotted woodpecker, sparrow sized, neatly chequered black and white with a crimson cap, is much rarer, and more difficult to see as it tends to feed up in the woodland canopy. However, pairs have been known to nest in Middleton Woods, and this time of year, with a clear view through the bare branches, is a good time to see them. During the next couple of months both greater and lesser males will be advertising their presence with rapidly drummed tattoos on dead tree trunks or branches, the sound carrying for a considerable distance. I have heard that it is possible to lure a male woodpecker towards you by imitating his rat-a-tat with a pebble on a tree trunk. It’s never worked yet, but I live in hope.
