The Great Spotted Woodpecker is a pied woodpecker: black with a large white shoulder patch and scarlet underneath the tail. It is much larger than the other British pied woodpecker, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. The Great Spotted Woodpecker is about the size of a Starling, while the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is more sparrow-sized.
The head is black and white: black crown and nape, white forehead, cheeks and throat. The back, wings and tail are black, except for the large white shoulder patches and smaller white spots on the wings. The underparts are whitish-buff with red underneath the tail (undertail coverts). The bill is grey coloured, the legs are grey-green and the eye is red.
The sexes are similar except that the male has a red patch on the nape and the female does not.
Juveniles have a red crown, pink vent and "blotchy" white shoulder patches.
As with other woodpeckers, the stiff tail feathers are used as a prop when it is clinging to a tree, and its toes are specially arranged with two pointing forwards and two backwards.
Their flight is very undulating as they completely fold their wings against the body between each series of several flaps.
| Scientific Name | Dendrocopos major |
| Length | 22-23 cm (9") |
| Wing Span | 34-39 cm (14-16") |
| Weight | 70-90 g (2½-3¼ oz) |
| Breeding Pairs | 27500 |
| Present | All Year |
| Status | Green |
Their contact call is a loud "tchick" sound.
The male Great Spotted Woodpecker is renowned for drumming its bill on a branch, which usually last only a few seconds and comprises 8-12 beats and fades away at the end.
Woodpeckers probe tree trunks for insects and larvae, but also feed on nuts and berries (in the winter). They grip the bark with their strong claws and, when probing the crevices or drilling holes, use their stiff tail feathers as a prop. In the summer, they will take bird eggs and nestlings from nests (including those in nest boxes, in to which they gain entry by increasing the size of the hole).
The woodpecker's tongue is extremely long and sticky for extracting insects, such as ants, from their nest chambers and crevices. The tongue is so long that its muscles wrap around the rear of the skull and back to the upper mandible.
Increasingly, Great Spotted Woodpeckers are feeding from peanut and suet feeders in gardens.
The nest is a chamber in a tree which is chiselled out by both birds. When chiselling, the woodpecker does not tap as quickly as when the male performs its drumming song.
The eggs are white, smooth and glossy, and about 26 mm by 19 mm. Both birds share the duty of incubating the eggs and feeding the young.
| Breeding Starts | Clutches | Eggs | Incubation (days) | Fledge (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| mid-April | 1 | 3-8 | 10-19 | 18-21 |
The Great Spotted Woodpecker is a resident breeding bird and is sedentary apart from the dispersal of juveniles from their natal grounds.
The Great Spotted Woodpecker's range continues to expand, and this has been partly aided by Dutch elm disease, which provided extra dead wood for nest sites.
