Spechte - Woodpeckers

Famous for their hammering and hole drilling, woodpeckers have a special place in the affections of bird watchers.  Their drumming and calling is often one of the harbingers of spring, a sure sign that winter's cold grip is slowly loosening.  Before trees and forests are adorned with leaf, they are often easy to observe flitting about in their arboreal overworld searching for food or excavating nesting holes with their formidable chisel shaped beaks.  Here in the Harzvorland we are blessed with at least 5 species - Black, Great, Middle, Lesser and Green, whilst the Grey-headed is rare and extremely localised and the White-backed, even rarer, can only be seen in the southern part of the Harz.  And last but not least, Wrynecks are sparsely but widely distributed.

Appelhorn former military training area north west of Goslar

Appelhorn nature reserve includes extensive areas of wonderful ancient forest ...

… and chalk grassland, home to many endangered plants

Buntspecht, or Great Spotted Woodpeckers, are ubiquitous and easy to come across almost anywhere where there is a decent covering woodland or forest.  Their smaller cousins, Mittelspecht, or Middle Spotted, have rather more refined requirements including a mature mixture of beech and oak and, providing that you look in the right kind of habitat, are relatively easy to come across.  The diminutive Kleinspecht, or Lesser Spotted, however, has even more exacting requirements needing extensive linked areas of mature mixed forest with plenty of dead wood into which they can excavate either for nesting or for food.  Like most places in Europe, these Liliputian jewels are definitely hard to come across, indeed a friend mentioned to me that he knew of some birders who had never seen one!

Great Spotted - Oberharz

Black in flight - Appelhorn

Wryneck - stock photo

Shwarzspecht, or Black Woodpeckers, are less dependent on deciduous forests and can be found almost anywhere in the region, even high up in the monotonous pine forests of the Oberharz.  The first sign of their presence is a grating but musical multisyllable 'krrri krri krii' call as they fly about their territories.  They are large crow-sized woodpeckers that seem to be more than holding their own.  Grunspecht, or Green Woodpeckers, are widely distributed and as often as not, can be seen looking for insects in sandy soil on the ground.  The closely related Grauspecht, or Grey Headed, are hard to come by north of the Harz and I know of only one location where they have been recorded breeding.

Middle - Appelhorn

Green - near Braunschweig,  Courtesy John Collins

Middle - Appelhorn

However, its the Lesser Spotted that has given me most satisfaction this early spring.  I have spent hours walking the dogs in suitable habitat looking and listening for this beautiful little woodpecker.  Its demanding and extensive habitat requirements - I have recently read that a single Lesser needs an living area equivalent to 500 Blue Tit territories - has condemned it to being unsuited to our 'parcelled' and tidy country sides and they are struggling.  So it was joy that I eventually heard its high pitched 'kee, kee, kee, kee' call and then saw one flitting amongst the top-most branches.  Patience and occasionally playing back its call, elicited wonderful views as it went about it business in its arboreal kingdom.  Long may it remain.

Lesser - Appelhorn

Lesser - Appelhorn