Green
Woodpecker |
Great
Spotted Woodpecker |
Lesser
Spotted Woodpecker |
GREEN
WOODPECKER
Picus viridis
Fairly common resident breeder.
There was a notable increase in the records to 110 in all, and about 40 locations were involved, though as some of these are relatively adjacent there is every probability the same birds were involved at more than one of them. As last year, more records originated in the south of the area than the north, even though there are significantly more sites north of Airedale: 24 out of the total.
Baildon Bank appears to be the area’s most reliable spot, as up to three birds were seen there almost daily during May, August, October and November, and it is worth stressing the ‘seen’, as 35% of the records received from elsewhere were based on unseen calling birds. This location also produced one of the few proven breeding records, when a juvenile was seen with an adult on 27th July. Two of the sites where young birds were seen in 2005 produced records again this year: Thornton Moor Reservoir, with an adult and two juveniles at the beginning of July, and Paul Clough, where a youngster was noted feeding on ants a month later.
Garden records are a rarity for this species, so a bird heard calling from a garden in Baildon was noteworthy.
GREAT
SPOTTED WOODPECKER
Dendrocopus major
Common resident breeder.
Well-recorded again, there were reports from about 50 locations, and breeding or the presence of territorial birds was also well-represented. Perhaps predictably the majority of reports came from the well-wooded areas in Wharfedale and the Washburn Valley, but once again there were garden records from the suburbs, predominantly in the south of the recording area.
Mid-January is now the time to expect birds advertising themselves by drumming, and the year’s first such record was in Shipley Glen on the 13th, followed by many further such reports in the four months which followed. Whilst not all this territorial behaviour resulted in proven breeding activity, it was positively established by the discovery of nest-sites and/or presence of juveniles at Folly Hall Wood, Oxenhope, Lindley Wood, Hirst Wood, St. Ives, Glovershaw, Middleton Woods, Otley Wetland, Ogden Reservoir, Dob Park, Shipley Glen, Nell Bank and a private woodland. Young birds visiting a garden feeder in Menston was an indication that they had been raised nearby, as, presumably, had a juvenile which visited Stockbridge Nature Reserve with its parent in June, when the adult provided the interesting spectacle of breaking a nut (taken from the feeder) in a purpose-made groove in the side of a tree before feeding it to the youngster.
The largest aggregations numbering six adult birds came from St. Ives, Shipley Glen, and the private woodland, and there were other garden records from Bingley, Low Moor, Baildon, Oakworth, Ben Rhydding, Keighley and Riddlesden, all succumbing to the lure of nut-feeders. What were almost certainly relocating birds were seen on four occasions in September and October flying over the migration watchpoints of Paul Clough and Denholme Clough.
LESSER SPOTTED
WOODPECKER
Dendrocopus minor
Uncommon resident breeder.
With 38 records from 12 locations, 2006 was an excellent year for this usually unobtrusive species, though it should be pointed out that 14 of the reports relate to well-watched birds in the general area of Shipley Glen, and another seven refer to one location.
As last year, the first report came from the Barden area, on the early date of 18th January, when two birds were seen. February brought the first of the Shipley Glen records, with a bird on the Higher Coach Road, another at St. Ives, and two birds (both drumming) near Lindley Trout Farm. Birds were seen at a private location in the following month, and Shipley Glen again featured, with another pair being located in a different part of the general area on 18th March, on which date a male was found near Apperley Bridge.
Most of the reports in April came from observers seeking out the by now popular Shipley Glen birds, but there were also additional sightings in the Barden area and at Middleton Woods, where the sole May record originated. June produced reports from two additional sites, near Marley Hall Farm and Stockbridge, this latter also having July’s sightings. The only August record came from a further area, Hirst Wood, and the final sighting, from the private woodland, was on the last day of the year. In all, a probable total of 18 birds were seen.
Whilst several pairs were located, the only indication of probable breeding came from Stockbridge, where a bird was seen food-carrying on 2nd July, and where a possible juvenile was observed on 25th June.