Field guide to the most commonly encountered mammals and birds

Here, we provide some basic information regarding commonly observed species (plus some others about which we have had queries).  

Feel free to contact us by email if you have any questions regarding species you have encountered on the site.

For more information about mammals, we recommend the Mammal Society's species hub, here. For birds, excellent resources are available from the RSPB (here) and the BTO (here).

 

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Great Spotted Woodpecker

(C) The Wasp Factory (shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license)

 

Scientific Name: Dendrocopos major

Appearance: Upperparts bold black and white. Underparts bright buff with sharply demarcated red patch under tail. Large white ‘shoulder’ patches and white-barring on black wings displayed in flight. Male has crimson patch on back of head, absent in female.

Song: Loud, short, fast drumming of beak on surface of tree. Also, sharp vocal tchik and a fast chattering alarm rattle.

When heard: Resident. Drumming; from mid-January to start of nesting in April or May. Calls; year-round.

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