Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Blackbird sized and really rather pretty, a regular garden visitor to our bird feeders. The males have a red patch on the nape of their necks which the females lack. Juveniles are obvious as they have a red top of the head which the adults lack.

Great Spotted Woodpecker ♂ (Dendrocopos major) (05/07/2006) Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Blackbird sized and really rather pretty, a regular garden visitor to our bird feeders. The males have a red patch on the nape of their necks which the females lack. Juveniles are obvious as they have a red top of the head which the adults lack.

Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Classic red patch at the back of the neck indicating a male, females lack these. Of note, lesser spotted woodpeckers are way smaller, only house-sparrow sized. They are anyway rare. If you hear a drumming sound in the spring, that will be a great spotted - not drilling a nest hole as was previously thought - it is in fact a signal to other woodpeckers about territory! They know how to find a branch that will make the loudest noise.

Great Spotted Woodpecker ♂ (Dendrocopos major) (22/01/2005) Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Classic red patch at the back of the neck indicating a male, females lack these. Of note, lesser spotted woodpeckers are way smaller, only house-sparrow sized. They are anyway rare. If you hear a drumming sound in the spring, that will be a great spotted - not drilling a nest hole as was previously thought - it is in fact a signal to other woodpeckers about territory! They know how to find a branch that will make the loudest noise.

Great Spotted Woodpecker ♀︎ (Dendrocopos major) (26/05/2007) Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Female as no red patch on the back of its neck.

Footpath in wooded bit just behind churck in Upper Beeding, Steyning. No red blotch at the back of the neck, so this sequence of images are of a female.

Great Spotted Woodpecker ♀︎ (Dendrocopos major) (21/04/2007) Footpath in wooded bit just behind churck in Upper Beeding, Steyning. No red blotch at the back of the neck, so this sequence of images are of a female.

Great Spotted Woodpecker ♀︎ (Dendrocopos major) (21/04/2007) Footpath in wooded bit just behind churck in Upper Beeding, Steyning.

Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Unless you have a view of the back of their neck, you can't tell which gender. I just know this is the female because its the specimen from an earlier image in this sequence.

Great Spotted Woodpecker ♀︎ (Dendrocopos major) (26/05/2007) Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Unless you have a view of the back of their neck, you can't tell which gender. I just know this is the female because its the specimen from an earlier image in this sequence.

Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). A male - you can see the red patch at the back of the neck which females lack.

Great Spotted Woodpecker ♂ (Dendrocopos major) (22/01/2005) Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). A male - you can see the red patch at the back of the neck which females lack.

Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Juveniles have a red crown which the adults don't have.

Great Spotted Woodpecker juvenile (Dendrocopos major) (23/07/2005) Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Juveniles have a red crown which the adults don't have.

Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Juvie learning how to land and balance on the peanut feeder!

Great Spotted Woodpecker juvenile (Dendrocopos major) (23/07/2005) Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Juvie learning how to land and balance on the peanut feeder!

Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Juveniles always look, well, Juvenile! Could be confused with a male lesser spotted as those do have a red crown, but those birds are only house sparrow sized and have a more chequered black and white appearance on their backs rather than white blotches. Sadly in any case lesser spots are now rather rare.

Great Spotted Woodpecker juvenile (Dendrocopos major) (07/07/2006) Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Juveniles always look, well, Juvenile! Could be confused with a male lesser spotted as those do have a red crown, but those birds are only house sparrow sized and have a more chequered black and white appearance on their backs rather than white blotches. Sadly in any case lesser spots are now rather rare.

Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Same juvie from the previous image - classic weird giss of juveniles.

Great Spotted Woodpecker juvenile (Dendrocopos major) (07/07/2006) Driftway, Upper Beeding, Steyning (garden). Same juvie from the previous image - classic weird giss of juveniles.