British Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1949 status

Dryobates major anglicus

Formerly less common than green woodpecker, but widely distributed in well-wooded country, and scattred pairs are to be found throughout the county.  Has increase during recent years.

R.M.Lockley, G.C.S.Ingram, H.M.Salmon, 1949, The Birds of Pembrokeshire, The West Wales Field Society

Great-spotted Woodpecker - 2003-07

The number of tetrads in which Great Spotted Woodpeckers were found increased significantly between 1984-88 and 2003-07, from 172 to 254 - almost 48%. With the exception of a small decline in the number of tetrads registering possible breeding, the number of tetrads where confirmed and probable breeding was recorded increased by around 67% and 122% respectively. According to BBS information the population index for this species has risen by 196% between 1994 and 2007 in Wales overall.

Donovan and Rees (1994) remarked that although much harder winters of the early 1960s apparently had no effect, the cold snap in winter 1979 was thought to have reduced the population substantially, based partly on observations at Hylton Woods. Since about 1990, there has been a remarkable run of generally mild winters so Great Spotted Woodpeckers may have prospered as a result.

By the end of the 1984-88 survey period, Donovan and Rees estimated that there was an average density of three or four pairs per occupied tetrad, providing a Pembrokeshire population of about 500 – 700 pairs. But they concluded that the population was undoubtedly greater prior to 1979. This woodpecker species is certainly one that currently seems to have prospered recently, and over the last 20 years seems to have recovered quite well.  Using the 1980s population estimate, based on the number found in tetrads, there may now be at least 760 to 1,000 pairs breeding in Pembrokeshire. 

Bob Haycock

 

Fieldwork 2003-07 (based on 490 tetrads)

Red = breeding confirmed = 75

Orange = breeding probable = 109

Yellow = breeding possible = 70

Total tetrads in which registered = 254 (51.8%)

Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1994

Breeding resident

The Great Spotted Woodpecker was classified as a rare occasional visitor by Mathew (1894), who listed only six occurrences. The diaries of Lloyd for 1927-1934 document a fairly widespread but patchy distribution, and contain remarks such as "they must have spread strongly" since Mathew's time. T.A.W. Davis noted that they first established themselves at St Ishmael's in 1939. Lockley et al. (1949) considered that they were widely distributed in well-wooded country, with scattered pairs throughout the county. Saunders (1976) assessed the species as widespread in small numbers throughout Pembrokeshire's woodlands.

Although the much harder winters of the early 1960s apparently had no effect, the cold snap of winter 1979 markedly reduced the population; for example, five pairs breeding in Hylton Woods in 1978 were reduced to a single unmated bird in the summer of 1979, and even by 1983 there had only been a recovery to two pairs. In consequence, the surveyors engaged in the Breeding Birds Survey of 1984-1988 found some woods contained old borings but no woodpeckers. At an average density of three to four pairs per occupied tetrad the county total was probably about 500-700 pairs at the end of the survey, but the total was undoubtedly greater prior to 1979.

Great Spotted Woodpeckers sometimes wander onto the cliffs of the outer coast in the autumn, as at Strumble Head in 1981, 1986 and 1990, and reached Skomer in 1962 and 1964.

Fieldwork 1984-88 (based on 478 tetrads)

Red = breeding confirmed = 45

Orange = breeding probable = 49

Yellow = breeding possible = 78

Total tetrads in which registered = 172 (36%)

Donovan J.W. & Rees G.H (1994), Birds of Pembrokeshire

Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1980s winter

The BTO winter atlas showed that Great Spotted Woodpeckers were present in most 10km squares of their known breeding range during the winters of 1981-82, 1982-82 and 1983-84.

The darker the colour, the higher the relative total count for each 10km square.  The darkest blue represents over 2-3 birds.

Graham Rees 

Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1970s breeding

Red = breeding confirmed

Orange = breeding probable

Yellow = breeding possible

Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1894

Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"

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