The Great Spotted Woodpecker is the most numerous of the UK’s three breeding woodpecker species with about 40,000 breeding pairs. It is found throughout England, Wales and Scotland but not in Ireland, the Isle of Man or upland areas of Scotland. It is mainly a bird of deciduous woodlands but has proved to be incredibly adaptable making good use of parks and gardens.

This species increased rapidly during the 1970s when Dutch elm disease lead to an increase in the amount of standing dead timber and its associated insects. There has been a further increase since the early 1990s but the ecological factors underlying this 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.

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