Green Woodpecker Picus viridis
Breeding distribution change
Widespread resident, increasing Britain as a whole since 1960s
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Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2013
Atlas species lists
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More Green Woodpecker maps
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More maps for this atlas
Map explanation
This map shows where changes occurred in the breeding season distribution of the species in Wiltshire between 1995-2000 and 2007-2012, as revealed by the fieldwork for Birds of Wiltshire (Wiltshire Ornithological Society 2007) and the shared fieldwork for Bird Atlas 2007-2011 (BTO 2013) and for Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2007-2012.
Gains and improvements
Status
Nos tetrads
Absent to present
150
16%
Present to breeding
76
8%
Absent to breeding
55
6%
No change
Status
Nos tetrads
Present in both
179
20%
Breeding in both
51
6%
Losses and declines
Status
Nos tetrads
Present to absent
100
11%
Breeding to present
64
7%
Breeding to absent
24
3%
Green Woodpeckers are found in Europe north to southern Scandinavia and east to central Russia; outside of Europe their range is restricted to Turkey and the Caucasus to northern Iran. In Britain, they are most numerous in southern England and South Wales, declining in northern England and south Scotland and rare in northern Scotland (and totally absent from Ireland and the Isle of Man).
Their specialised feeding pattern, mainly on the ground picking up ants and other insects with their tongue, makes them vulnerable to extended periods of cold weather. In Great Britain this led to sharp falls in numbers after the harsh winters of 1946-47 and 1962-63. Since then numbers have increased steadily: Bird Atlas 2007-2011 recorded them present in 54% of 10km squares in summer and 52% in winter.
In Wiltshire, WTA2 recorded them present in the breeding season in 575 tetrads, with breeding confirmed or probable in 182, which amounted to a 16% increase overall since Birds of Wiltshire and a 31% increase in the number of tetrads where breeding was confirmed or probable.
References
The following references are used throughout these species accounts, in the abbreviated form given in quotation marks:
“1968-72 Breeding Atlas” – Sharrack, J.T.R. 1976: The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1981-84 Winter Atlas” – Lack, P.C. 1986: The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1988-91 Breeding Atlas” – Gibbons, D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman, R.A. 1993: The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-91. T. & A. Poyser
“Birds of Wiltshire” – Ferguson-Lees, I.J. et al. 2007 : Birds of Wiltshire, published by the tetrad atlas group of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society after mapping fieldwork 1995-2000. Wiltshire Ornithological Society.
“Bird Atlas 2007-2011” – Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B.J., Swann, R.L., Downie, I.S. and Fuller, R.J. 2013: Bird Atlas 2007-2011: the Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland
“WTA2” – ("Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2 ") the present electronic publication, bringing together the Wiltshire data from “Birds of Wiltshire” and “Bird Atlas 2007-11”, together with data from further fieldwork carried out in 2011 and 2012.
"Hobby" - the annual bird report of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society.