March 2017 — The Great Spotted Woodpecker

There is nothing like a stripped-back winter landscape to give an appreciation of the subtleties of colour, sound and movement. On Sunday 19 February, I was returning from a walk near Strinesdale upper reservoir when I heard a noise like a burst of gunfire, followed by a second and then a third volley. A Great Spotter Woodpecker was loudly proclaiming its presence by drumming on a resonant tree. The sound is produced by hammering with the bill and I once read that someone had filmed the action and the slowed-down film showed 14 beak-strikes per second. On the following morning, the drumming sounded somewhat softer and looking towards its source, I could see the bird ascending a vertical branch by means of the powerful woodpecker feet known, it seems, as zygodactyl feet (meaning that two toes project forward and two toes backward). The brilliant red under-tail part of the bird is always cheering to see.

The Great Spotted Woodpecker

     While the Great Spotted Woodpecker is firmly established in the Medlock Valley, I miss the Green Woodpecker, seemingly absent in recent years. The loud laughing call of the bird sounded like nothing else and I once saw a Green and a Great Spotted scrapping over possession of a hole in a tree.

     Every year I am impressed afresh by the sound of the Song Thrush. The phrasing is so varied and the stamina remarkable. Last evening, I was collecting someone at the Derker tram station and a Song Thrush was somewhere overhead singing loudly, no doubt responding to the artificial light flooding the car park.

     This morning I was watching a Dunnock (or Hedge Sparrow). Although unobtrusive birds of modest grey and brown colouring, they are in fact finely and tastefully marked when closely observed. Their song has been likened to the squeak of a rusty wheelbarrow, but on such a grey morning it came across as silvery and optimistic. This was followed by the harsh, scraping call of a Jay. One of these large and colourful crow relatives was side-slipping away through the trees. Are they pinkish-brown or brownish-pink?

     The mild winter has changed the usual winter-into-spring progression and early daffodils are beginning to flower. Here are there the variety tete-à-tete can be seen. This is an ideal plant for our area, being short in stature and wind-resistant. It retains the charm and simple elegance of a wild flower.

First published in March 2017