Great Spotted Woodpecker

Name: Great Spotted Woodpecker

Scientific name: Dendrocopus major

Category: Birds

Nature Stars: 40

What are nature stars?

About: A medium-sized woodpecker, about the same size as a blackbird. Black and white, with large white patches on the back, red underneath the tail. Males have a red patch at the back of the head. Woodpeckers nest in holes that they excavate in trees. A common

How to identify: Only likely to be confused with the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, which is much smaller, only about the size of a sparrow.

Where: Widespread, although absent from northern Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Natural Superpowers

• Predator: 70
• Agility: 80
• Rarity: 40
• Cute factor: 70
• Traveller: 30

Fantastic fact: In the last couple of years, the Great Spotted Woodpecker has started to nest in Ireland for the first time.

Photograph credit: Photo credit tbc