VAL BOURNE’S GARDEN WILDLIFE
Val reveals the interesting visitors that ants bring to the garden
ONE of my favourite sights only happens on mild, damp days in June. Then the green woodpecker (Picus viridis) brings in a baby or two, almost as large as herself, and they begin to peck at the large anthill we have in our mini meadow, or strut about the lawn. Last year, it was too dry, so I wasn’t treated to the spectacle, but most years I catch sight of this feeding frenzy once or twice a year. In other years, I just see the beak- shaped holes in the top of the anthill. The juvenile woodpeckers are nearly always fully fledged, but with more grey, and I’ve never seen more than two youngsters, although each clutch of eggs usually contains up to seven completely white eggs. These are laid in early May and the adults don’t move far from the nest. The male sits over the eggs at night and he has a lot of red in his black moustache. We don’t see green woodpeckers in the garden during the rest of the year, although I do hear them making a cackling sound that earns them the common name of the yaffle bird. They’re also called the rain bird because they’re meant to herald rain. They’re easy to spot in flight because they have this gently undulating flight pattern and their green bodies, seen from behind, display a yellow body and a red nape. They’re the largest of our three woodpeckers and they’re mostly ground feeders in shorter grass. Old orchards are perfect for them because there’s a supply of beetle grubs in the soft, decaying wood. Their beaks aren’t strong enough to drum, but they do have very long, sticky tongues.
Ants are the favourite food of the green woodpecker, and gardeners often ask me what I do about my ants. I always say ‘nothing’. Admittedly, ants get in among the roots of some of my strawberry plants, but a bucket of water gently tipped over them instantly makes them move home. They also creep over my peony buds, to suck off the sticky coating, and they roll cyclamen seeds around as they lick away the sugary substance. However, none of these is life threatening.
Green woodpecker numbers are declining. There are approximately 24,000 breeding pairs in lowland Britain, according to the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology), but numbers have dropped in Wales so they’ve have been given an amber status. With this in mind, be tolerant of ants and, should you move to a garden with an old anthill, leave it alone. Then you may see green woodpeckers in your garden in June.
“Green woodpecker numbers are declining”