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Irish Woodpecker Notepad (1 Viewer)

Sancho said:
Meanwhile the hundreds of little old ladies from here to Shankill who know there are woodpeckers about (on account of their prediliction for peanuts and fat-balls) will be devastated;).
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Clarification - it´s the woodpeckers have the prediliction for peanuts and fat-balls, not the little old ladies. AFAIK.
 
Yikes - My broadband was down for a couple of days; Manure, fan, violent contact etc..etc..

I'm just looking for general news on numbers, latest status etc, not specific breeding sites; I know well that it's not the thing to divulge them. Thanks Sancho for your defence here and in private! Am tempted to start another thread with a slightly differently worded heading, but hey, lets continue this for now.

Actually, in the intervening period I have obtained a glimpse of GSW of my own! Bray area, just a few seconds flight from the car.

Thanks,

Andrew
 
pianoman said:
Yikes - My broadband was down for a couple of days; Manure, fan, violent contact etc..etc..

I'm just looking for general news on numbers, latest status etc, not specific breeding sites; I know well that it's not the thing to divulge them. Thanks Sancho for your defence here and in private! Am tempted to start another thread with a slightly differently worded heading, but hey, lets continue this for now.

Actually, in the intervening period I have obtained a glimpse of GSW of my own! Bray area, just a few seconds flight from the car.
Thanks,

Andrew
Click to expand...

No problem, Andrew. Congratulations!!! But now that you have divulged Bray woodpecker information, we may have to "disappear" you....;)

Éanna
 
I think it's all the camouflage we wear going to our heads...

Really I'm just asking one question I suppose - is the GSW population still increasing in 2010 over 2009? I guess once that's a yes then I'm happy to go find my own!
 
pianoman said:
I think it's all the camouflage we wear going to our heads...

Really I'm just asking one question I suppose - is the GSW population still increasing in 2010 over 2009? I guess once that's a yes then I'm happy to go find my own!
Click to expand...

I get the feeling it is Andrew although hard facts are rightly hard to come by. We still don't know the true extent of the current population and there must be a good chance that we are underestimating the numbers of breeding pairs at the moment. With records from Derry to Wexford (mostly from coastal/near coastal areas) lets hope it is also spreading inland as well. It may take 5-10 years to be sure that the population has taken a strong hold and that the population is viable long tern, lets all hope they have as they are tremendous birds and brighten up any days birding in Ireland.
Here is a pic of an Irish Woodpecker!

derek
 

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DEREK CHARLES said:
lets hope it is also spreading inland as well. derek
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Thanks Derek! Nice picture, and very Irish he looks too ;-)

About 8 years ago a taxi driver, who was an occasional birdwatcher, insisted that he had seen GSW several times in woods near Mullingar - I expressed my doubts at the time, but perhaps he was right and they have been in relatively unwatched midland areas for some time.
 
pianoman said:
I think it's all the camouflage we wear going to our heads...

Really I'm just asking one question I suppose - is the GSW population still increasing in 2010 over 2009? I guess once that's a yes then I'm happy to go find my own!
Click to expand...

It's amazing the change of stance when one alters the wording to a request [re my earlier posting] on a forum like this. No offence intended to you Andrew.
Happy pecking,drumming or whatever!

Si.
 
This was posted on the IBN

Update from the Wicklow Woodpecker Study Group After last year's successful breeding season of Great Spotted Woodpeckers inCo. Wicklow as reported in 'Wings', a series of unanswered questionsremained, principally where had these birds come from and were they allrelated. It was then decided to try and investigate this a bit further usinggenetics and a literature review found that studies conducted on speciessuch as eider have found that it is possible to use old feathers, egg shellsand other materials retrieved from nests for DNA analysis. Once the birdshad fledged last year we managed to retrieve material (several small bodyfeathers and some prey remains) from those empty nests that were accessiblefrom a tall ladder. These were then stored in a freezer for futurepotential genetic analysis but in order to do this we (Faith Wilson, DickCoombes and Christian Osthoff with help from many others) needed moregenetic material, a genetics expert and some money. Faith applied for and got some funding from the Heritage Council to try andanswer these questions. Prior to the breeding season in 2010 an adult birdwas trapped and a feather taken from it under licence from National Parksand Wildlife Service. This and the feathers collected in 2009 have all beentested by the team geneticist Dr Alan McDevitt and the good news is thatthey have produced viable DNA. We had also hoped to be able to sample someof the specimens stored in the various natural history museums but it hasproven tricky to extract clean DNA from such old materials and thus thiswork has at present been put on hold until a more specialised DNA extractionmethod has been developed. One of this year's nests has unfortunatelyfailed, apparently due to the loss of one of the adults to predation by aSparrowhawk, but it did give us the opportunity to retrieve some substantialmaterial in the form of 5 dead chicks. The main unforeseen problem now is that very little genetic work has beendone on Great Spots in Britain or Europe and thus we have little material tocompare the Irish samples to. We have found an unlikely partner in Poland,who it seems are the only people to have done much genetic work on thisspecies to date. The retrieval of material from nests and trapping ofwoodpeckers will resume after the breeding season has ended although thenecessity to trap birds is much reduced due to the successful extraction ofDNA from downy feathers which we hope to again retrieve from those nestswhich are safely accessible. Ringers across Britain and Europe have beeninformed of the project and have been asked to gather suitable material forus and which we hope to be able to compare our Irish GSW DNA with. We havealso been in contact with a number of GSW experts across the UK and on thecontinent who have trapped GSW for over 30 years and found them to be veryresilient to trapping and handling. Now some results of this year's field work. As was commented on before, the season started off with few sightings butthere were many indirect signs that they had survived the winter well.During April and May, birds and pairs began to be seen but mostly heard inthe old sites and some new ones were also uncovered. So far 11 occupiednests have been found this year in Wicklow and based on some other birdsightings and signs we think that there are probably between 15 and 20 pairs/nests in Wicklow and north Wexford. From reports and signs, we suspect thatoverall there is a small number of birds/pairs scattered along the entireeast coast - potentially linking with the Northern Irish populations. Thereappears to be no real movement inland as yet but based on the currentincrease, that is only a matter of time as six ten kilometre squares arecurrently occupied in Wicklow/Wexford to date - will look interesting in thenext Atlas! With something in the region of 500 hours of field work done, these birdsdon't give up their secrets lightly. Many many thanks to those named aboveand many others who have helped directly in the project or have reportedtheir sightings/observations indirectly via BWI allowing us to slowly buildup the picture of what is happening with these birds. The ultimate questionof the origin of this new population to Ireland will of course be down togenetics, a lab in Poland and how differentiated the DNA is amongst thevarious races across Europe. It is not as simple as CSI Miami would haveyou believe.... Finally, can we plead with all who see, hear or spot signs of woodpeckers tocontinue to report them confidentially to BirdWatch Ireland or any of theabove mentioned. All results will be made public in due course. Regards, Christian, Dick and Faith
 
What a fascinating report. It would be terrific to know where Irelands Great Spots originated from. Lets hope the studies quash the often ridiculous assumption or rumour that 'our' woodpeckers were the result of some clandestine smash and grab raid in Wales by a certain conservation group over here.
Once again, great report Derek.

Si.
 
That's super, thanks very much for that Derek. I seems quite likely to me that the arrival of GSW is likely to be related to the large increase in Britain over the last few years. If there was no comparable increase in the rest of Europe then I would guess that the new arrivals came from Britain. If the increase was matched all over Europe, then they could have come from elsewhere.
 
Hi - as a Ostrich obsessive, I'd be really grateful if anyone could record news, sightings, personal experience of nesting Ostrich in Ireland. I have been finding it difficult to get all news from this year.

thanks!

John.
 
John In Ireland said:
Hi - as a Ostrich obsessive, I'd be really grateful if anyone could record news, sightings, personal experience of nesting Ostrich in Ireland. I have been finding it difficult to get all news from this year.

thanks!

John.
Click to expand...

Usually in association with herds of wilderbeast - are you taking the P|<|
 
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