Richard Collins: Woodies are loyal partners but not always

Woodpeckers’ flexible domestic arrangements encourage ‘free love’

The acorns’ mating arrangements are much looser than those of other woodpeckers.

Greater-spotted woodpeckers are breeding here now. As is customary among small and medium-sized birds, they are ‘seasonally monogamous’.

Partners remain faithful to each other while they have eggs and young to look after, then they go their separate ways. Like robins, female woodpeckers may establish territories of their own in winter. Some pairs get together again the following spring, others don’t, although fidelity to the breeding territory is strong. A Russian female occupied the same home range each summer but changed her partner four times in five years.