Great Spotted Woodpecker Around the beginning of June some of
the strangest noises to be heard in woodland are at their
greatest. These are the calls of the young in Great Spotted
Woodpecker’s nests. The nests can be found easily in patches of
woodland throughout the Valley and this common but overlooked
bird is at its noisiest as it makes its metallic ‘tchick’ calls
to keep in contact with its family while it collects food from
nearby trees. The nests are holes in trees of many sorts, but
commonly in rotting branches or trunks of oaks or in large
silver birches. I’ve seen the nests most often about four to
five metres high, but I found a nest recently that was barely
one and a half metres from the ground with the young calling
loudly for their food. If you find a nest and would like to see
the birds, you should stand well away and wait quietly until the
parent bird comes, announcing its arrival loudly when several
metres away, but usually being very quiet when dropping quickly
down to the nest to the great a