Meet All Three Species of England’s Woodpeckers!
A woodpecker doesn’t just appear, it announces itself! You’ll hear a sudden burst of tapping, a sharp call, or a laugh that sounds almost human, then a flicker of movement on a trunk or across the trees. In England, that flash belongs to one of three species: the Great Spotted Woodpecker, the Green Woodpecker, or the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.
This guide keeps things simple. You’ll get quick ID tips you can use on a normal walk, the best places to look, and the sounds to listen for. You’ll also learn how to watch well, because good wildlife watching isn’t about getting closer, it’s about noticing more without taking more.
Help woodpeckers: dead wood and nest safety
Don’t crowd nest holes. All wild birds, their nests, and eggs are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Keep dogs on leads near nesting areas, follow access rules, and let the birds get on with the work.
These wonderful birds rely on mature trees and dead wood, which is why it’s so important to save our forests. Even ‘dead trees’ are not really dead (rotten bark provides good hunting ground for food, and a place for nests).
And when birds abandon the nests after rearing chicks, the tree holes are often used by bats, owls and bees. Nature in balance.
Woodland birds rarely visit gardens. Learn how to create safe havens for garden birds, and how to stop birds flying into windows.
How to spot a woodpecker (colour and sound)
Use this quick list when something darts past and your brain goes blank:
- Overall size: Great Spotted feels thrush-sized; Green looks larger and longer; Lesser Spotted is small, almost starling-sized, and fine-billed.
- Main colours: Black-and-white suggests Great or Lesser Spotted; green and yellow points to Green Woodpecker.
- Red flashes: Great Spotted shows red under the tail; Green shows red on the crown; male Lesser Spotted shows a red crown.
- Where it feeds: On trunks and feeders (often Great Spotted), on the ground in grass (often Green), on slender branches high up (often Lesser Spotted).
- Head markings: Males often show more red, but age matters, and juveniles can look scruffier. Use this as a hint, not a rule.
Great Spotted Woodpecker: the bold black and white!
The Great Spotted Woodpecker is the one most people meet first. It’s medium-sized, black and white, with a bright red patch under the tail. Males show a red patch on the back of the head, while juveniles can have more red on the crown, which can confuse beginners.
Look for it in broadleaf and mixed woodland, parks with mature trees, and larger gardens. It feeds on insects and larvae under bark, yet it also takes seeds. In winter it often turns up on feeders, especially for peanuts and fat balls (suet). It clings, hops, pauses, then strikes, like a carpenter checking a beam.
Green Woodpecker: the ant-eater you often hear
If the Great Spotted is a tree bird, the Green Woodpecker is a grass bird with wings. It looks larger than the Great Spotted, with a green body, a yellow rump that flashes as it flies, and red on the crown. The face looks pale, with a darker area around the eye that can read as a “mask” at distance.
Its favourite places in England include woodland edges, orchards, churchyards and cemeteries, golf courses, and any patch of rough or short grass rich in ants. That detail matters, because ants are its main food, along with their larvae. So you’ll often see it on the ground, head down, moving with purpose.
The sound is the headline. The “yaffle” call rolls out across open space and can lead you straight to the bird. Drumming happens, but less than with the spotted species.
The green woodpecker flies like a madman up and down, up and down. And when he’s not banging that beak away at a tree, he’s calling loud with his piercing ‘yaffle laugh. So what makes him such an extrovert?
Maybe it’s the extra long tongue he hides in his beak? Apparently it can stretch the length of his body to reach bores, beetles and weevils. Personally I think he’s be more at home with a can of lager and a kebab! Matt Sewell
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker: the tiny, shy one
England’s smallest woodpecker is black and white, with a ladder-like pattern on the back. The bill looks short. Males have a red crown. Instead of clinging to big trunks in full view, it often works high in the canopy, picking along thin branches where small insects hide.
Seek it in older deciduous woodland, wet woodland, old orchards, and places with dead wood and ageing trees. That last point isn’t romantic, it’s practical. Dead wood holds insects, and insects feed woodpeckers.
Its drumming is softer and faster than the Great Spotted woodpecker, and you may only catch a short burst before silence returns.
