Wildlife

Wild Great Spotted Woodpecker Welfare

Great spotted woodpeckers are woodland specialists whose welfare depends on dead and decaying timber for nesting and foraging.

Key Facts

Great spotted woodpeckers excavate fresh nest holes each year in dead or dying wood
Dead wood provides the invertebrate prey central to their diet
Both sexes excavate and incubate and share chick-feeding duties
Population has increased significantly as woodland area and deadwood has increased
They visit garden feeders for peanuts and suet in winter

Welfare Considerations

Great spotted woodpeckers unable to find dead wood for nest excavation cannot breed. Their welfare requires woodland managed to retain standing dead trees and fallen logs providing invertebrate-rich foraging habitat. Woodland management that removes all dead wood eliminates this species from otherwise suitable habitat.

What You Can Do

Leave dead and dying trees where safe to do so in woodland
Put up large woodpecker nest boxes in woodland gardens
Support ancient woodland management retaining deadwood