New Challenge: Finespotted Woodpecker

Always a fan of the Afrotropical species, GARY BRALSFORD grabbed the chance to take on a pair of this species recently. Key tip so far: be prepared to provide a lot of replacement logs!

SOFTBILLS

A FEW months ago I was lucky enough to pick up a lovely pair of fine-spotted woodpeckers (Campethera punctuligera) from a well-known bird dealer in Redditch. He had three birds: two cocks and a hen. All three were in immaculate condition and housed in a large flight with other birds. These occupants were much bigger, such as Victoria crowned pigeons (Goura victoria) and large African starlings.

The dealer fed them on a mixed diet for omnivorous species with fruits, seeds, softfoods, vegetables and livefood with minced beef. He had also placed a large fern stump in the flight, which they loved, and I decided to replicate this in my own set-up.

Settling in back at Gary’s

I got the birds home and set about making a flight for them. I chose a 3m long x 1.2m wide x 2m high (10ft x 4ft x 7ft) flight inside my birdroom. The walls of this purpose-built construction were made from PVC, with a panel on one side made from solid steel. (Woodpeckers can peck their way out of a standard wooden frame within a few hours.)

I then went down to the local wood made up of silver birch trees, of which many had fallen over through wind damage. The tree stumps contained a lot of invertebrates such as woodlice, ants, earwigs and spiders. I transported the logs in plastic bin liners to stop the insects getting all over the car and to contain them in the wooden logs.