The UAFC

Cap'n Grumpy wrote:

Dave wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:01 pm British_Airways_Concorde_G-BOAC_03.jpg

Is that the legendary Dodo, Dave?

Male or female?

Nice pic.

No it's a concorde (airplane).

Dave wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:43 am

Cap'n Grumpy wrote:

Dave wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:01 pm British_Airways_Concorde_G-BOAC_03.jpg

Is that the legendary Dodo, Dave?

Male or female?

Nice pic.

No it's a concorde (airplane).

So it is!

I knew it was one of them extinct things.

There's not much gets past you.

I should have known better, having even been inside one, way back in the day. I haven't been inside a dodo.

Cap'n Grumpy wrote:

Dave wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:43 am

Cap'n Grumpy wrote:

Dave wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:01 pm British_Airways_Concorde_G-BOAC_03.jpg

Is that the legendary Dodo, Dave?

Male or female?

Nice pic.

No it's a concorde (airplane).

So it is!

I knew it was one of them extinct things.

There's not much gets past you.

I should have known better, having even been inside one, way back in the day. I haven't been inside a dodo.

Nice one. What was the experience like?

Not the dodo

Dave wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 9:51 pm

Cap'n Grumpy wrote:

Dave wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:43 am

Cap'n Grumpy wrote:

Dave wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:01 pm British_Airways_Concorde_G-BOAC_03.jpg

Is that the legendary Dodo, Dave?

Male or female?

Nice pic.

No it's a concorde (airplane).

So it is!

I knew it was one of them extinct things.

There's not much gets past you.

I should have known better, having even been inside one, way back in the day. I haven't been inside a dodo.

Nice one. What was the experience like?

Not the dodo

I plead the 5th.

Oh, okay, it wasn't all you might expect - it was in a museum and wasn't going anywhere. It was surprisingly small inside.

Other than that, it was quite unremarkable.

Still, it's better than never having been on one.

According to Guide to Irish garden birds there are substantial populations of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers in Counties Down and Wicklow.

Fintan wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 3:12 pm According to Guide to Irish garden birds there are substantial populations of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers in Counties Down and Wicklow.

They came to Down first! about 15 years ago, after being extinct in Ireland for about 300 years. They arrived in Wicklow about 3 years later. They seem to be thriving.

big mervyn wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:43 am

Snipe Watson wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:00 am Spoke to a guy on Friday who has lesser spotted woodpeckers in woodland at his house in county down

There was a massive increase in the population in Belvoir Forest last year, Definitely one of our most successful recent immigrants. We're coming into the season where you hear and see them.

big mervyn wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 5:16 pm

Fintan wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 3:12 pm According to Guide to Irish garden birds there are substantial populations of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers in Counties Down and Wicklow.

They came to Down first! about 15 years ago, after being extinct in Ireland for about 300 years. They arrived in Wicklow about 3 years later. They seem to be thriving.

Okay, so we know there are Greater Spotted Woodpeckers here, and I thought Snipe and Merv had confirmed that the Lesser Spotted Woody Woodpecker was now here too ... but is that what we are agreed on, or are we back to Greater Spotted only?

big mervyn wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 5:16 pm

Fintan wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 3:12 pm According to Guide to Irish garden birds there are substantial populations of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers in Counties Down and Wicklow.

They came to Down first! about 15 years ago, after being extinct in Ireland for about 300 years. They arrived in Wicklow about 3 years later. They seem to be thriving.

Apparently they thrive on the readily available nesting materials in Norn Iron.

They build M A S S I V E nests from pallets which the locals gather up for them from spring to early summer. The adult birds then sometimes adorn the nests with material they gather up. When the young birds have fledged by early July, they vacate the area back into woodland and leave the locals to tidy up their nests - by burning apparently to prevent the transmission of bird flu.

True fact that!

Lesser spotted woodpeckers are spotted less because they don't build such obvious nests.

Cap'n Grumpy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 8:33 pm

big mervyn wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:43 am

Snipe Watson wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:00 am Spoke to a guy on Friday who has lesser spotted woodpeckers in woodland at his house in county down

There was a massive increase in the population in Belvoir Forest last year, Definitely one of our most successful recent immigrants. We're coming into the season where you hear and see them.

big mervyn wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 5:16 pm

Fintan wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 3:12 pm According to Guide to Irish garden birds there are substantial populations of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers in Counties Down and Wicklow.

They came to Down first! about 15 years ago, after being extinct in Ireland for about 300 years. They arrived in Wicklow about 3 years later. They seem to be thriving.

Okay, so we know there are Greater Spotted Woodpeckers here, and I thought Snipe and Merv had confirmed that the Lesser Spotted Woody Woodpecker was now here too ... but is that what we are agreed on, or are we back to Greater Spotted only?

Sorry. Didn't read Snipe's post properly. No lesser spotted in Ireland far as I know but maybe Snipe's neighbour has spotted something new. They're extremely rare even in England.

big mervyn wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 9:27 pm

Cap'n Grumpy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 8:33 pm

big mervyn wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:43 am

Snipe Watson wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:00 am Spoke to a guy on Friday who has lesser spotted woodpeckers in woodland at his house in county down

There was a massive increase in the population in Belvoir Forest last year, Definitely one of our most successful recent immigrants. We're coming into the season where you hear and see them.

big mervyn wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 5:16 pm

Fintan wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 3:12 pm According to Guide to Irish garden birds there are substantial populations of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers in Counties Down and Wicklow.

They came to Down first! about 15 years ago, after being extinct in Ireland for about 300 years. They arrived in Wicklow about 3 years later. They seem to be thriving.

Okay, so we know there are Greater Spotted Woodpeckers here, and I thought Snipe and Merv had confirmed that the Lesser Spotted Woody Woodpecker was now here too ... but is that what we are agreed on, or are we back to Greater Spotted only?

Sorry. Didn't read Snipe's post properly. No lesser spotted in Ireland far as I know but maybe Snipe's neighbour has spotted something new. They're extremely rare even in England.

That concurs with my understanding.

I thought from what snipe and yourself had written previously that things had changed.

Heard my first (GREATER spotted I assume!) woodpecker yesterday - appropriately enough on the first day of astronomical Spring. They drum like crazy at this time of year. It was in Belvoir woods up towards the golf course. Must take a decent camera down and see if I can get a photo.

big mervyn wrote: ↑Sun Mar 21, 2021 2:58 pm Heard my first (GREATER spotted I assume!) woodpecker yesterday - appropriately enough on the first day of astronomical Spring. They drum like crazy at this time of year. It was in Belvoir woods up towards the golf course. Must take a decent camera down and see if I can get a photo.

You sure it wasn't Rory, on a rare visit home, banging his head off a tree?

Or his driver off a tree?

Bullfinch outside our house in BT4 today.

Never seen one before.

Greater Spotted Woodie in Scotland, we don't get the Lesser Spotted either, I use to see them in Leicestershire when living there, we also get the Green Woodpecker.
Great Spotted Woodpecker

You can tell that to big Jim. He swears he has lesser spotted woodpeckers in his woodland in Co Down.