April 2023

14 Buckden Roundabout April 2023 Wildlife Buckden WI Our March meeting was the A.G.M. and we welcomed Sally Dalley from Headquarters who had kindly agreed to officiate over the meeting. Our treasurer read her report on our finances and our secretary gave a brief resume of activities and speakers we had enjoyed during the year. The committee was then voted in for the next year and Emma Spencer was duly elected as President. Ruth thanked the committee for their help and support during her time in office and Betty Millard, on behalf of all the members, thanked Ruth for all her hard work as President. The Raffle was then drawn and the cup presented jointly to Jessica Blagbrough and Carol Swepstone, members who had entered the most competitions over the year. Once all the busi- ness side of the evening was completed members then enjoyed refreshments including home made cakes provided by the committee. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, April 4th in the Village Hall. The subject for the evening is “ The last but one tick on the list ” and the competition is for “ Your most thrilling experience ”. We warmly welcome new members and visitors so do come along and if you would like more information please contact: Emma Spencer – tel 07960 018412 Judith Armitage – 01480 811717 Woodpeckers A visit to your garden from a woodpecker can be a real treat but pecking at a fat ball doesn ’ t show off the specialist adapta- tions of these amazing birds. There are around 200 species of woodpecker worldwide inhab- iting all continents except Aus- tralasia, Madagascar and the extreme polar regions. They can vary in size from 7 cm, weighing in at 9 g up to 60cm topping the scales at 550g. The first adaptation is not that noticeable, but their feet are different from the usual bird figuration of three toes forward in a triangular pattern and one back. Woodpeckers instead have zygodactyl feet, that is two toes forward, two back and, together with very stiff tail feath- ers this allows them to walk vertically up tree trunks. The main and most incredible adaptations, though, are the mechanisms that allow the woodpecker to live up to its name. When the woodpecker is pecking at a tree the bill hits the wood with a force up to 1400G per blow at an average of 20 blows per second. When you consider that a single strike of 60 - 100G is enough to give a human concussion then the bird has a lot to deal with. The first protective mechanism is the con- struction of the skull, the plates are softer than normal and there is less cerebral fluid and this together with a smooth sur- face to the brain work to reduce any movement of the brain within the skull. Secondly, the Hyoid bone, present in all birds and attached to the tongue, in the woodpecker comes up the back of the neck and over the skull terminating near the base of the beak. This then acts like a seatbelt preventing excessive movement of the skull. Thirdly, the upper beak is longer than the lower beak, but the bone of the lower beak is longer than the bone of the upper. This acts a little like a shock absorber and transfers the force away from the head and into the body of the bird. Finally, the act of pecking itself allows the bird to vary slightly the path of the shocks of each blow minimizing the impact in specific areas of the head. There are 3 resident species of woodpecker in the UK. The largest is the Green Woodpecker, a bright olive green bird with a yellow rump that is easily seen as the bird flies away from you. The chest is grey as is the head which has a bright red cap and black markings around the grey eyes. It is the only British woodpecker to feed on the ground digging for ants which it scoops up with its long tongue. It only bores into trees to make a nest hole. It has a distinctive shrill call that sounds somewhat like a laugh and gave the bird its ancient name of the Yaffle. The most common UK woodpecker is the Great Spotted Wood- pecker. Totally different in appearance from the Green, it is a black and white bird with a small patch of red under the base of the tail. Males also have a patch of red on the back of their heads. Its call is similar to the Green but shorter and quieter, the bird preferring to advertise its presence by ‘ drumming ’ on tree trunks. This machine gun noise echoes through wood- lands with 40 beats per second for up to a second in duration. With a much more varied diet than the Green this bird is the one most likely to come to gardens, particularly favouring pea- nut feeders. The third UK species is the rarest. The Lesser Spotted Wood- pecker is very similar to the Great Spotted but is nearly half the size. It is more striped than the Great and the red on the male ’ s head extends to a full cap. Its calls and drumming are also similar the Great but quieter and slower. There are estimated to be around 3,000 pairs of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in the UK, compared with 45,000 pairs of Great Spotted it can be under- stood why the conservation sta- tus of the Lesser is red compared to green for the other two spe- cies. (Thanks to Gregory Belcher, Sen- ior Reserves Officer, Wildlife Trust BCN Grafham Water for the arti- cle and both photographs.) Great Spotted Woodpecker Green Woodpecker