Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes

Not quite as wild as the laughing policemen on Yarmouth seafront that I remember as a boy, who would howl with laughter for a minute if you put a penny in the slot. He was the best amusement after the big dipper. But others have said the green woodpecker has a joyous, loud, and easy laugh.

You can hear it half a mile away and it always brings a smile to my face in the woods around my home. It has been called a frenzied, sarcastic neigh as well, and a warning of rain approaching. So Rain-bird is one of the names given to it by country folk.

Another common name which many people used in my youth was Yaffle (hence the character Professor Yaffle in the classic children's BBC TV series Bagpuss), which again described the call.

But why was it called Galleybird? I have never quite understood that one. Paintpot was also a common name once and that is easily understood because the bird is a glorious compendium of colours with white, green, red and black.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette December 3