From extinct to backyard regular: Bringing the woodpecker back to your Irish garden

Would you, could you tempt a woodpecker into your garden over the winter? Kya deLongchamps offers some inspiration

Father and (presumed) woodpecker son (right in flight). Great spotted woodpeckers (dendrocopos major).

This summer, I was out shoving the mower around when a persistent mechanical bleat broke through the racket I was making.

I’m a life-long wildlife lunatic, so I executed a soft pad/side shuffle to the edge of the woodland. The consistent pleading of an unfamiliar bird was right overhead. I threw myself down on my back amid the woodlice, muck, and mouldering leaves, peering up the trunk of an old and partially rotting oak tree.