Woodpeckers causing power outages in Ireland (1 Viewer)

[kennethwfd]

No dispute about the first part of this article, in that Greater Spotted Woodpeckers have returned to, and are now breeding in Ireland.
However, I have never heard of damage being caused to poles used for overhead power cables and the like

‘Dramatic spread’ of woodpeckers in Ireland causes electricity blackouts

 

[Lisa W]

Couldn’t get to the site, said “the page you are looking for no longer exists.” Just thinking about it, they would have to be pecking a heck of a lot of holes to do that.

 

[Rolosama]

‘Dramatic spread’ of woodpeckers in Ireland causes electricity blackouts

The birds have migrated south from Scandinavia in large numbers and are causing damage to vital infrastructure

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[Rolosama]

This video is in French, but the images clearly show the problem linked to the Woodpecker. It is mentioned that 100,000 posts have been damaged by the Woodpecker and 12,000 must be replaced...

 

[Farnboro John]

And next week on "Talking Blx".....

John

 

[Lisa W]

So I found the article on yahoo.news: ‘Dramatic spread’ of woodpeckers in Ireland causes electricity blackouts.
And part of the article was this: “The woodpeckers had left holes in the poles, which began to rot. This forced ESB Networks to remove and replace them and led to scheduled power outages.”
So, I am surmising (not using assume - because well) that the poles were probably needing to be replaced anyway due to age.

 

[Farnboro John]

This video is in French, but the images clearly show the problem linked to the Woodpecker. It is mentioned that 100,000 posts have been damaged by the Woodpecker and 12,000 must be replaced...

So even nesting woodpeckers only cause pole replacement in about 10% of cases: and these ones in Ireland are migrants.

John

 

[Rolosama]

So even nesting woodpeckers only cause pole replacement in about 10% of cases: and these ones in Ireland are migrants.

John

And some of these posts were already attacked by carpenter ants

 

[Julie50]

Are the woodpeckers going for the ants?

 

[kennethwfd]

Are the woodpeckers going for the ants?

Apparently, the real damage is being done when they drum in the spring as part of establishing their territories

 

[Farnboro John]

Apparently, the real damage is being done when they drum in the spring as part of establishing their territories

I don't believe a word of it because those poles won't make woodpecker drums. Drumming is on thinner branches that resonate.

John

 

[kennethwfd]

I don't believe a word of it because those poles won't make woodpecker drums. Drumming is on thinner branches that resonate.

John

that is why I posted this article with a degree of caution. I was tempted to post it on the joke of the day thread.
Why would a woodpecker peck treated wood in the first place?

 

[Farnboro John]

that is why I posted this article with a degree of caution. I was tempted to post it on the joke of the day thread.
Why would a woodpecker peck treated wood in the first place?

Well, a wooden pole is just that. I've seen breeding holes for Red-headed Woodpecker in telephone poles in Florida and I daresay other species use them in other places.

But a treated pole isn't going to yield a lot of food until the treatment chemicals have had plenty of time to leach out: and it's never going to be a drum.

John

 

[iraqbabbler]

I'm worried now that woodpeckers will start pecking at posts in this forum.

 

[MJB]

I'm worried now that woodpeckers will start pecking at posts in this forum.

Woodpeckers aren't omniscient... I've seen Syrian Woodpeckers land on, and attempt to drum/peck, concrete power poles in Slovakia and Hungary... (The resultant sounds were odd, very odd...)
MJB

 

[Zipppy]

So even nesting woodpeckers only cause pole replacement in about 10% of cases: and these ones in Ireland are migrants.

John

Great Spotted Woodpeckers colonised Ireland about 15 years ago and are now widespread breeders, probably have bred in all counties by now.

 

[Farnboro John]

Great Spotted Woodpeckers colonised Ireland about 15 years ago and are now widespread breeders, probably have bred in all counties by now.

Fairly unlikely that they are Viking marauders migrating South from Norway, though: much more likely to have spread West from the UK.

John

 

[Hemang]

As Electrical Engineering student, this new was really interesting and bit sad, hope they don't destroy the returned woodpeckers. And find an alternative
Here we have pole made of cement or steel so it's not possible to get damage by birds around here

 

[Zipppy]

Fairly unlikely that they are Viking marauders migrating South from Norway, though: much more likely to have spread West from the UK.

John

You are correct. Copied from IRBC website.

 

[Andy Lakin]

A species can't be non native and previously existed in a place as mentioned in the article. Yet more rubbish reporting it's not rocket science!