BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Great Spotted Woodpecker

GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER
Dendrocopos major

Conservation listings

Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: green

Long-term trend

UK, England: rapid increase

Distribution maps

Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.

Status summary

This species increased rapidly in the 1970s and began a further increase in the early 1990s. Dutch Elm Disease, which greatly increased the amount of standing dead timber and its associated insects, has been linked to the 1970s increase (Marchant et al. 1990). The ecological factors underlying the current increase are not yet known, but the species may be benefiting from the maturation of new forests and from the increasing provision of winter food in gardens. Brood size appears to be decreasing, but NRS data are sparse for this species.

Table of population changes for Great Spotted Woodpecker

Source	Period (yrs)	Years	Plots (n)	Change (%)	Lower limit	Upper limit	Alert	Comment
CBC/BBS UK	35	1967-2002	230	230	146	446
	25	1977-2002	300	61	39	101
	10	1992-2002	586	65	51	84
	5	1997-2002	784	38	29	46
CBC/BBS England	35	1967-2002	208	227	141	399
	25	1977-2002	271	61	37	95
	10	1992-2002	527	67	51	82
	5	1997-2002	701	37	31	44
BBS UK	9	1994-2003	619	85	68	104
BBS England	9	1994-2003	552	81	64	100
BBS Wales	9	1994-2003	47	63	14	133

Table of productivity information for Great Spotted Woodpecker

Variable	Period (yrs)	Years	Mean annual sample	Trend	Predicted in first year	Predicted in last year	Change	Comment
Brood size	34	1968-2002	15	Curvilinear	3.21 chicks	2.52 chicks	-0.69 chicks	Small sample
Daily failure rate (chicks)	34	1968-2002	16	None				Small sample

Insufficient data on clutch size
available for this species

Insufficient data on egg nest failure
available for this species

Insufficient data on laying date
available for this species

Insufficient data on CES
available for this species


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This report should be cited as: Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Crick, H.Q.P., Noble, D.G., Balmer, D.E., Beaven, L.P., Coombes, R.H., Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. and Thewlis, R.M. (2005) Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2004. BTO Research Report No. 385. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends) Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 18 January, 2006