Woodpecker Hilton

The Greater Spotted Woodpecker remains elusive this year. They've been seen only fleetingly around the garden and once on the lamp post at the front. You can hear them in the woods though, drilling away with their pneumatic-like beaks. They've been here for a while too as this tree testifies. These woodpeckers will sometimes come back to breed in the same tree that they used the previous year, though they usually locate the new residence below the one already used. That's only if they aren't ousted by the local starlings, who sometimes move in after the hard work has been done. Woodpeckers often get a bad name for feeding on other birds chicks but their own eggs are not safe from smaller birds themselves. Sparrows and starlings will sometimes steal woodpecker eggs.