Great Spotted Woodpecker

 

Adult female Great Spotted Woodpecker, Chambers Farm Wood, January14th 2016; photograph courtesy of Russ Hayes.

 

 

Adult male Great Spotted Woodpecker,North Somercotes, January 3rd 2016; photograph courtesy of Mark Johnson.

 

The Atlas fieldwork in the 1980s took place during a period of growth and expansion of the population of “Great Spots”. At that time a breeding population of 500 pairs was estimated. The BTO Atlas 2007-2011 showed the spread continued to cover most of the east side of Lincolnshire that had previously been unoccupied. The Lincolnshire BBS index shows that there was a fall in the population during the 1990s before (similar to the rest of the country) the population recommenced increasing, growing by 50% over the period 1994-2019.  The APEP4 adjusted population for Lincolnshire in 2016 was 1,500 pairs. In some years there is pronounced autumn passage involving birds of the northern, nominate race along the coast. In the 10 years to 2018 the best passage site was Gibraltar Point which had a peak of 11 south on October 2nd, 2012 and 15 birds on September 30th, 2017.