Songbird Saturday: the Great Spotted Woodpecker

It might be around the same sort of size as a Blackbird, but the Great Spotted Woodpecker is larger than life, both in appearance and displays of musical prowess.

Striking red, black and white colouring, combined with a bouncing flight and tree-hugging habit, make this medium-sized woodpecker one of the most instantly recognisable birds, even for those unable to ID other species.

The Great Spotted Woodpecker might not fit with the conventional idea of a ‘songbird’ but its distinctive drumming serves the same function – to attract a mate or scare off a rival.

The rapid, rhythmic tapping produced by this woodland drummer as it strikes its beak against tree-trunks at phenomenal speeds of 40 beats per second is unmistakeable once you know what you’re listening out for. To many, it’s considered one of the first signs of spring – although it can be heard as early as mid-winter.

While with most British birds it’s primarily the males that sing, with woodpeckers drumming is carried out by both sexes.

Along with the percussion for which it’s most famous, this bird also has a loud ‘tchick’ call which can be heard as a series of separate near-identical vocalisations regularly spaced out, or as a much quicker paced series of chattering sounds. 

The Great Spotted Woodpecker is the most common and widespread of three native woodpeckers in the UK, along with the larger, equally distinctive looking Green Woodpecker and the sparrow-sized, rare Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker's drumming is longer and more sustained than the Great Spotted, but also faster and higher pitched because the smaller woodpecker uses thin branches. By contrast, the Green Woodpecker hardly drums at all, so the best clue of its presence is its characteristic 'yaffle' - a loud, laughing call. So if you go down to the woods and hear a staccato beat echoing through the trees, it's most likely to be the Great Spotted Woodpecker, master drummer extraordinaire.