Quantock Hills. An Area of Outstanding Beauty

I was working with Doug (my ringing trainer) and Boyd (FC Wildlife Ranger) when I could hear young Greater Spotted Woodpeckers calling very close by.  As I approached the tree and nest hole of the woodpeckers the noise suddenly appeared to be in stereo and I realised a young Greater Spotted Woodpecker had fallen out of the nest and was amongst the whortleberry.  In fact, two had fallen out but sadly one was already dead.  Unfortunately the nest was far too high to reach so we decided to take the young bird with us.

En route to our next location Boyd took a detour for some meal worms and whilst we had our lunch, the woodpecker seemed interested in his, which was very encouraging.  I have rehabilitated some birds in the past and thought if I could keep it going for a few days whilst my diary was busy I would then take it to a rescue centre.

Once home, my daughter was roped in to care for Knocky as he came to be known.  Knocky began to flourish, putting on weight, constantly calling and producing a lot of poo, a bit like us humans really.

After a few weeks (and a considerable amount of meal worms) the time came to release Knocky.  Although my daughter was sad, it was a magical moment when, after all that hard effort, he was released and flew off back to the wild.

It’s been some weeks since the release and we have been lucky enough to see Knocky several times.  So occasionally a few meal worms are put out just to make sure he’s doing all right.

If you see young birds out of their nest, then the best thing to do more often than not is leave it alone as its parents are most likely about and keeping an eye on it.  However if you are concerned about any wild animal it’s best to call a rescue centre or the RSPCA.