Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes December 3 2008

THE green woodpecker's call has been described by some as a crazy laugh.

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.

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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.

Green is the main colour though and the bird can easily hide itself on the trunk of a mossy tree. I have learned how to imitate the call by making a loud, low repeated whistle. Old birds quickly ignore me but youngsters think I am mother and will come gladly from some distance believing they have not been abandoned after all.

I once even called a youngster down onto my head when the poor little thing nearly died of fright as he realised that I was not a stump of wood covered with lichens after all.

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Green woodpeckers are quite common in Sussex, with about 200 different sites regularly reporting birds present. Their specialised habitat can be described as parkland. That is lots of oldish trees many of which have dead branches, surrounded by old meadowland.

One of their favourite foods are ants. They dig into the ants' nests with their dagger beak then unleash a mighty tongue that probes deep underground, licking up grubs and adults like an African anteater.

When the green woodpecker excavates a neat hole it scatters chips of white wood far and wide underneath the tree. This is how I have found many nest sites.

Quite often old nests are occupied by starlings, nuthatches, even jackdaws and little owls. The bird does seem to enjoy making a new nest each year, which requires a supply of dead trees. So if you own land with standing timber think of the laughing bird before you cut out dead wood: it could bring a smile to your face.

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