Green Woodpecker

Although substantial decreases have frequently followed severe winters, particularly after the winters of 1946/7 and 1962/3, Green Woodpeckers showed a population boom in Lincolnshire from 1994-2010. The Lincolnshire BBS index shows that the boom flattened out and the population has fallen back a little recently. The Atlas estimated a breeding population of 100-200 pairs but the APEP4 adjusted estimate for 2016 is around 500 pairs which is probably in the right ballpark. There are still parts of the north and east of the county that Green Woodpecker has yet to reach. What caused the spread and limits their current distribution is not understand but ants, their main food source, are likely to be a factor. On the coast it is seen only rarely and at irregular intervals, usually in September and October. Few birds have been ringed in the county but those ringed across the UK have shown great site fidelity with very few birds moving more than 100km.