In article , K
writes

"Malcolm Ogilvie" wrote in message
...
:
: In article , Peter Crosland
: writes
: All through the winter and into mid-summer I have the pleasure of seeing
: several greater spotted woodpeckers visiting my nut feeders each day.
About
: the end of July the adults and their youngsters disappear. Yesterday I
the
: first one I have seen for two months appeared. A friend who lives about
: twenty miles away has noted the same phenomena year after year. We both
live
: in Somerset in areas with mature woods and old orchards. Is this some
sort
: of short distance migration or has anybody got another explanation?
:
: It is quite normal behaviour, and not just for woodpeckers. The birds
: have moved out into nearby woodland to take advantage of the usual
: summer abundance of natural foods, and haven't needed to visit your
: feeders. Great Spots are largely insectivorous in summer but take
: increasing amounts of tree seeds especially from pine cones as they
: become available in the summer and autumn. They sometimes feed on the
: cones while they are green.

There's a dead tree in the road almost opposite my house and a Great Spot
has been making a hole. It was there for about 6 days and then disappeared,
so we thought it had abandoned it but it was seen again one day last week.
It seems a topsy turvy time for nest building.

Ah, but it isn't, or only indirectly. Woodpeckers roost in holes in the
wintertime and need to excavate some extra ones when there aren't enough
natural or existing nest holes to go round. Some autumn-bored holes may
be used as nest holes the following summer but many will only be used in
winter.

--
Malcolm Ogilvie