[jurek]

Thanks a lot, very interesting!

[Jos Stratford]

Originally Posted by Xenospiza

The silhouette of a Black Woodpecker really looks nothing like a Green Woodpecker.
While Greens are quite compact, Black Woodpeckers have a long neck and usually hold their had up high..

Agree again, but I think the majority of records of Black Woodpecker in the UK are from birders/non-birders who have little experience of the two species, quite possibly none whatsoever of Black Woodpecker, therefore subtle things like structure, as well as size mentioned earlier, are also of little importance

'A woodpecker, big thing I'm sure, it looked more or less black, maybe a dash of red on the head', quick thumb through the book, there it is, Black Woodpecker. In walks a cynic, 'are you sure it wasn't a Green?' A look of disgust rises across the peeved observer, 'No way, they look like Golden Orioles, and I know 'cos there was a Golden Oriole on my lawn last year'.

So goes another record in the birding history of the fabled Isles of Britannia.

[John Cantelo]

Originally Posted by Jos Stratford

Agree again, but I think the majority of records of Black Woodpecker in the UK are from birders/non-birders who have little experience of the two species, quite possibly none whatsoever of Black Woodpecker, therefore subtle things like structure, as well as size mentioned earlier, are also of little importance

'A woodpecker, big thing I'm sure, it looked more or less black, maybe a dash of red on the head', quick thumb through the book, there it is, Black Woodpecker. In walks a cynic, 'are you sure it wasn't a Green?' A look of disgust rises across the peeved observer, 'No way, they look like Golden Orioles, and I know 'cos there as a Golden Oriole on my lawn last year'.

So goes another record in the birding history of the fabled Isles of Britannia.

This was exactly the point that Sharrock was making in his note (which I didn't quote in full).

Meanwhile I've located the paper on Black Woodpeckers in the UK in 'Birding World' and will post a short resume here anon (I'm off out in 5 minutes for a reunion with some old colleagues ...... so I'll probably be in no state to post owt until tomorrow!),

[DMW]

Here in Jersey we don't get Green Woodpecker, let alone Black. It does, however, have the same mythical status as Black in the UK, with reasonably frequent records from non-birders. Ironically, these likely relate to female Golden Oriole.

It's quite frustrating to be able to see the spires of a French church which has 3 species of woodpecker we've never had, in its grounds!

[Bob Philpott]

As a youngster the only bird book around was the 'Observers' book of british birds and that had Black Woodpecker in it. That meant that my formative years were a big disappointment because I expected to find the bird in every woodland I went to and I have never recovered.

[Isurus]

Originally Posted by DMW

It's quite frustrating to be able to see the spires of a French church which has 3 species of woodpecker we've never had, in its grounds!

Agreed!

[David FG]

Originally Posted by Bob Philpott

As a youngster the only bird book around was the 'Observers' book of british birds and that had Black Woodpecker in it. That meant that my formative years were a big disappointment because I expected to find the bird in every woodland I went to and I have never recovered.

I have just hunted down my old and very battered 'Observers'' to see if my memory was playing tricks, and it wasn't.

My copy - vintage c.1968 - doesn't have Black Woodpecker in it. Was yours either much before or later than that?

[John Cantelo]

Fitter’s article in ‘Birding World’ (Vol. 5 No. 2 1992) is clearly a recap of his earlier one in 1959. The essentials are pretty much as follows-
Until the 1850s Black Woodpecker, were accepted as a rare vagrant to Britain, but by the 1870s they were seen to be unacceptable (apparently as a result of the researches of J.H. Gurney). Fitter suggests that “the ornithological establishment …. determinedly invent(ed) excuse after unlikely excuse every time a Black Woodpecker was recorded.” He also suggests that there was no real evidence to support these rejections. He rejects suggestions that the “bird(s) 'must have been' released or escaped from captivity” as “only a very few Black Woodpeckers are known to have been released in Britain, all in the 1890s, and two of those were sick birds” or that they could be a case of mistaken identity. He continues to say that it is ironic that “not long after the bird was dismissed from the British list it began to increase its range on the Continent ….”.

Fitter noted 82 records in his 1959 paper including “several clusters of mainly 19th-century records are highly suggestive of one or two Black Woodpeckers wandering about a district …” He highlights the records from the Welsh Borders, in Herefordshire, the Forest of Dean and Brecon, “where nine or ten birds were recorded in the 30 years after 1874” and suggests the 1903 bird was a survivor of this group. He further notes 4 ‘records’ in the Home Counties (1844-1850), a further 8 (1836-1913) within 30 miles of the New Forest and a “smaller cluster of three records around Dunster and Porlock, Somerset (1935-1944). He points out that between 1913 and 1954 there were “11 British sight records, an average of nearly three per decade, roughly half the average for 1800-1910” which apparently represents a halving of the sightings rate compared to earlier times despite the greater numbers of birdwatchers.

Fitter lists seven reports which he felt demonstrated the case for admission to the British list:-
1 One shot near Blandford Forum, Dorset, in the “late 18th century” (formerly in the collection of Lord Derby).
2 One shot at Longleat Park, Wiltshire “before 1887”
3 One shot near Otley, Yorkshire, Sep¬tember 1897. Specimen being identified by Howard Saunders who rejected the record as he believed it to be one of the two birds released in Northamptonshire in 1895. (Fitter suggests this is unlikely as the birds were unwell when released. He also rejects the thesis that they were one of 7-8 birds released in Suffolk in summer 1897 as these were immatures and could not have moulted in time).
4 One seen April 1903 near Builth Wells (Breconshire) by J.W. Walpole-Bond who dismissed it as the bird released in 1897 (see above).
5 One seen at Park Hall, Mansfield, Notting¬hamshire December 1907
6 One seen in Delamere Forest, Cheshire July 1936 by an experienced woodman “who also knew the three other woodpeckers”.
7 One seen in a garden at Hitchin, Hertford¬shire December 1936 by an observer familiar with the three native woodpeckers.

Fitter commented in 1992 that “the publication of my paper in 1959 seems to have brought records of the Black Woodpecker in Britain to a complete halt. I have neither heard of nor received any new records since 1959”. He goes on to suggest that the lack of records suggests not that birds weren’t seen, but that observers either “believe them to have been escapes or 'know that the establish¬ment appears automatically to reject them.”

There’s no doubt that RF Fitter was one of the greats of 20th Century ornithology whose opinion cannot be dismissed lightly, but, personally, I’m a little underwhelmed by these ‘’unassailable’ records. The suggestion that self censorship accounts for the lack of recent records strikes me as unlikely. I find it more convincing that previous records are tainted rather than everyone being intimidated from reporting what they see. Some research I did on the status of Crested Tit in England a few years back is an interesting parallel – numerous 19thC reports and very few 20thC ones. I found it hard to resist the idea that most earlier records were fraudulent, genuine error (museum labels being switched) or unsubstantiated. The fact that ‘British’ specimens fetched more money and conferred greater kudos on their owners cannot be ignored. Nor can the suspicion that not all releases of captive birds in the 19th C (Fitter mentions at least one more than I’ve noted here) were recorded. The editorial comment that followed Fitter’s analysis commented that the species now bred “close to the Channel coast in France and in coastal dune pinewoods just 190km due east of Suffolk..” Well, now they’re in coastal dune pinewoods less than 55 km from Dungeness ……..

[davercox]

Originally Posted by David FG

I have just hunted down my old and very battered 'Observers'' to see if my memory was playing tricks, and it wasn't.

My copy - vintage c.1968 - doesn't have Black Woodpecker in it. Was yours either much before or later than that?

Mine (1958) hasn't either.

[JoanT]

Originally Posted by John Cantelo

Fitter’s article in ‘Birding World’ (Vol. 5 No. 2 1992) is clearly a recap of his earlier one in 1959. The essentials are pretty much as follows-

Fitter lists seven reports which he felt demonstrated the case for admission to the British list:-

7 One seen in a garden at Hitchin, Hertford¬shire December 1936 by an observer familiar with the three native woodpeckers.

…..

A History of the Birds of Hertfordshire by B W Sage 1959

quotes " There have long been people who have considered that this species should be admitted to the official list of British Birds, and the whole subject has recently been investigated by R S R Fitter the first part of whose report appears in the Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 79: 79-87. There are 2 Herts records for this woodpecker and I am indebted to Mr. Fitter for details of these. One was seen in a garden at Hitchin on 5th December 1944 by Mrs. E. M Flauva; the details supplied with this record are very satisfactory. Some doubts attaches to the record of one said to have been seen on the golf course in Hatfield Park in July 1937 by L Buxton"

Interestingly this book does not mention the 1936 date though Hitchin is mentioned in the 1944 record.

These are in the appendix of the book along with other escapees such as Budgerigar etc

Joan

[DavidinParis]

D'Urban and Mathew, in their "Birds of Devon" (1895), considered the evidence for Black Woodpecker in the county to be "decidedly weak". They noted 19th century "records" from places as far apart as Clovelly, Crediton, Mount Edgcumbe (sic) (near Plymouth) and, somewhat vaguely, East Devon.

They did go on to say that this "fine Woodpecker is only to be found in pine-forests, and is therefore most unlikley to occur in England." To what extent they were influenced by the fact that it was "not admitted to the British List" is, of course, debatable.

It doesn't seem to be an appropriate bird to be held in collections (of live birds) but, I suppose, that might have been a possibility and some escapes might have occurred.

David