Your wild summer

The best of the season’s wildlife and where to enjoy it on your local patch

And the beat goes on…

Guess how many beats per second a great spo ed woodpecker makes with its beak. Five? Ten? Try 40! The great spot is one of three native woodpeckers and by far the best drummer. Its frantic drumming helps a ract a mate, with beats rasping out across woodlands from January to June. Lesser spo ed woodpeckers look similar but are a lot smaller and a lot rarer – just 3,000 breeding pairs remain in the UK. No problem finding a green woodpecker though. The largest of our woodpeckers is a common garden visitor, o en seen on lawns hunting for ants and other titbits. Listen out for its laugh-like ‘yaffle’.

See Them This Summer

 Charley Woods Listen out for drumming great spots and green woodpeckers in this mosaic of woodlands.

 Narborough Bog All three species of woodpecker have been recorded in this diverse woodland.

There’s no headaches for these head bangers! Woodpeckers withstand the rapid deceleration that comes with quick- re drumming thanks to their compact skulls and close- tting brains.

A big thank you!

Money from your membership goes towards protecting essential habitat for birds such as woodpeckers. From them – and us – thank you!