Green Woodpecker

Above: Adult male
Below: Juvenile.

Green woodpeckers are the largest of the three woodpeckers in the UK. They are resident all year round and unlike our other, black and white woodpeckers, spend a good deal of time on the ground. This is because they chiefly eat ants in the summer. Actually most guide books only state that they eat ants but their diet must be more varied than that otherwise they would starve in the winter. So whilst ants are a popular item on the summer menu, no doubt worms, grubs and other food items supplement their diet in winter.

The adults are handsome birds. They have a bright green back and wings, with dark primaries that are lightly speckled with white or off white. The belly, breast and vent are whitish sometimes with a hint of creamy yellow or greyish wash. The flanks can sometimes have faint light grey barring just below the folded wing. The tail is short and stiff and typically used as a prop (as in other woodpeckers) and is dark like the wing primaries. The rump is yellow and the crown is bright red. The sides of the head match the belly and breast but the cheeks are black and the male has a black-edged, red moustache stripe, whilst the female has an all black moustache stripe. the beak is dark grey and sometimes the lower mandible is yellowish, although this is not easy to see after they have been digging in the dirt. The legs are also dark grey.

Juveniles, whilst unmistakably green woodpeckers, have a number of distinct features of their own. The cheeks have no solid black and there is no moustache stripe (except may be a hint). Instead the cheeks, belly, breast and vent are boldly patterned by black or green striping, clearly seen on the photo below left. The back and upper wings have pale white or yellow spots, that are lacking in the adult, and the pale spots on the wing primaries are much more obvious.

These birds seem to be particularly nervous and fly off with their loud laughing 'yaffle' call when you get 'too close'. Too close can be well out of photo range in a lot of cases. They also fly up to a tree trunk and deliberately hide round the back of it making them quite tricky customers to photograph. In fact (at the time of writing) I've only recently enjoyed a measure of success with these birds and have to state that I've found August to be the best month to photograph these birds, when they are out and about with the new youngsters.

Slow approach is by far the best method and preferably with some cover between you and the birds. If you know where they are commonly feeding, you could try a portable hide or a camouflage sheet. Juveniles seem to be easier to approach than adults although none will tolerate you very close.

In the north west, I've seen these birds behind the beach between Pwllheli and Llanbedrog in North Wales and at Rostherne, Lyme Park, Tatton Park and Dunham Park in Cheshire. No doubt there are other places with suitable open woodland or parkland where they can be found. My favourite place is Dunham Park at Dunham Massey in Cheshire. It's not far from where I live and there are quite a number of green woodpeckers there. Also there is lots of cover. There are a lot of newly planted trees and to protect these from the resident fallow deer they have been surrounded by individual wooden fences. These allow you a lot of cover to 'sneak up' on the birds and also are just about the right height to shoot over the top so you don't have to reveal your whole self to get a picture.