Winter in the Wyre Forest, the sad demise of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, plus a quick Slimbridge visit

    

Glossy Ibis

Our garden Greater Spotted Woodpecker has started drumming again on his favourite tree, a sure sign that spring is not a million miles away.  He does this as breeding season approaches to proclaim ownership of his territory and warn off any rivals. With this in mind, and a bright cold sunny morning forecast for Wednesday, I set off for the Wyre Forest in Worcestershire to see if I could locate any of my garden drummers much rarer cousins, the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. I arrived  in the forest just before dawn on a beautiful morning faithful to the weather forecast, perfect conditions for a bid of territory advertising. 

 

I was further encouraged by a  Greater Spotted Woodpecker drumming loudly near the car park. I made my way to a spot that has been good in the past where dead partially rotten trees had been favourite drumming spots.  The drumming on old rotten trees is said to carry further. My experience is that, in particular,  the drumming sound is the only way to locate them and it is hence important to be able to distinguish the drumming from that of its larger cousin.  To me at least the drumming of the Lesser is more pleasing to the ears being softer and warmer and less mechanical than their greater cousin. It is also much quieter and carries less far indicating that a drumming bird is close by if you hear it.

 

The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is the smallest of the three woodpeckers that are resident in Britain. It is similar in size to a Sparrow and weighs just 20 grams compared to the 85 grams of its greater cousin. The male is distinguished from the female by his bright red crown.

 

The drumming trees were still standing but a prolonged wait yielded no Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. I eventually decided to move on and explore some parts of the forest I had not visited before. To cut a long story short, in five hours of searching I did not get sign or sound of one. It’s possible I was unlucky but this is the second year in a row when I’ve had no sightings. Going back a few years it was comparatively easy to find them at Wyre at this time of year.

 

It may be that I’m a combination of unlucky and incompetent, I would certainly hope so, but I sadly think it is more likely that this mirrors their decline nationwide as  this is a bird which is sadly in great trouble in the UK.  The population of this small Woodpecker is estimated to have fallen by > 90% since 1970, with no more than 600 pairs thought to be left in the UK. The ongoing loss of ancient and mature woodland and the removal of dead and rotting wood is thought to be a key factor in this decline. The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker may also have been affected by the growing Greater Spotted Woodpecker population driven in part by the plentiful winter food supply available for it at our garden feeders. The Greater Spotted Woodpecker is also a fearsome predator of other nesting woodland birds, quite capable of enlarging a nesting hole to get at the chicks inside.

 

The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker endured a woeful breeding season in Britain last year with the woodpecker network describing it as one of the poorest seasons since the organisation was established. Only nine nests were found in Britain last year, with an average of 1.3 young fledging per nest – a figure deemed not enough to sustain the national population. There are a small number of pictures and  records from the forest this year on social media so they are still there, presumably in very small numbers, but for how long I sadly wonder?

 

Here is a picture of a handsome male taken a few years back in the forest when it seemed much easier to find them.

There were reasonable numbers of the other woodland specialists that you would have expected to find at this time of year, Siskins, Coal Tits, Nuthatch etc. with quite a few encouraged by the sun to start singing and calling.

 

I decided to pop down the motorway to Slimbridge for the afternoon to see a very confiding Glossy Ibis that had been present for a few days in a field directly adjacent to the car park. The Ibis had been reported at 13:30 but when I arrived 30 minutes later it had gone. This was definitely turning into one of those days! I decided to spend an hour or so in the Rushy side hides and have another look towards the end of the day. The usual winter suspects were very plentiful on the Rushy, Bewick’s, Pintail, Teal, Shelduck etc. I moved onto the Willow hide to see if the Water Rail was about under the feeders. It was showing well but my camera started playing up and I only got it sorted as the Rail disappeared into the reeds. I waited another 30 minutes but it did not come out again. This really was turning into one of those days, I don’t recall kicking a black cat recently!

 

Fortuitously, the day was somewhat saved by the Glossy Ibis reappearing and giving great views in its favourite field. Set in the background of general decline , the heron family have been one of the very few UK avian  positives in recent years with Little, Great and Cattle Egrets all comparatively recent additions to the  UK breeding list. The Glossy Ibis in the UK seems to be next on the list for UK colonisation of the Heron family with a remarkable upwards of 100 birds being reported in the country at times. They made a couple of breeding attempts in England in 2014 and 2016, with the first confirmed successful nest in 2022. It's predicted that breeding may become more common as climate change results in drier summers in southwest Europe and milder winters in the UK.

Humans have a long history of special relationships with the exotic ibis family. The ancient Egyptians, who thought animals were incarnations of gods on Earth, worshipped the sacred Ibis as the god Thoth, who was responsible for maintaining the universe, judging the dead, and overseeing systems of magic, writing, and science.

 

Just to make my day I realised when I got back to my car that I had left my driving glasses in one of the hides. I made my way back to the main entrance but it was now all locked up!! Luckily, I found a very helpful groundsman who radioed my predicament to the staff inside and a very kind and friendly lady retrieved my glasses and brought them out to me.

 

I can tell you that I’m steering well of any of those bl**dy black cats in the future!

 Footnote – my blogs are posted with sometimes rather imaginative spelling and grammar due to my extreme dyslexia!