Black Woodpecker question

[Wild-Woman]

What do you think the chances are that one day, Black Woodpeckers will make a final hop across the Channel and set up in Britain? Also do you think there are other birds that will make Britain home one day in the same way the Little Egrets have, if so what species?

[thebeard]

as it is sedentary (doesn't migrate) i don't think the chances are high, although it could happen just through natural dispersion i suppose.

As with other birds, again i think it is with birds which are migratory and will most probably expand their range north due to warmer weather/better conditions. Continental herons such as purple herons and spoonbills will probably become more frequent, as well as birds like white storks. Passerine-wise i'm not sure, perhaps other species of warbler, maybe serin? who knows?

[Dogghound]

Black woodpeckers wont travel across open water so are very unlikely to travel the channel.

Off the top of my head Zitting Cisticola, bee-eater, hoopoe, glossy ibis...

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

Black woodpeckers wont travel across open water so are very unlikely to travel the channel.

Off the top of my head Zitting Cisticola, bee-eater, hoopoe, glossy ibis...

They are on some of the Greek Islands though? Would the Channel just be too wide? I realise that terrestrial birds don't really like crossing water in the same way that sea birds (some) don't enjoy crossing land.

Thanks for the other species.

[Ukwildlifeo]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

Black woodpeckers wont travel across open water so are very unlikely to travel the channel.

Ive heard this.

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

They are on some of the Greek Islands though? Would the Channel just be too wide?

They might be populations that travelled there in the Ice age when the sea level meant there was land between the islands and mainland and they didn't make it to britain between us 'de-icing' and the channel forming.

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by thebeard

as it is sedentary (doesn't migrate) i don't think the chances are high, although it could happen just through natural dispersion i suppose.

I agree with this. Black Woodpeckers are not a species that is known to disperse over long distances, but it is possible that they could cross the channel (Like Eagle Owls, they are present on the island of Gotland, so it must be possible for them to cross open water and colonise areas on the other side). It's certainly doesn't seem likely in the foreseeable future though; there have been claims of sightings in the past, but none have stood up to the required level of scrutiny for official acceptance, and (like Eagle Owls) the population levels on the near parts of the continent are too low to make it likely that enough will have reason to attempt the crossing to establish a breeding population.

As far as other species go, the most likely colonists would have to be the species that currently occur as spring passage migrants or 'over shooting' vagrants (things like Little Bittern, Night Heron, Hoopoe etc.), or perhaps some of the longer lived transatlantic vagrants that may arrive in Europe in the autumn and then stay (eg. Pectoral Sandpiper and Ring-billed Gull).
There's always a chance of species that haven't been thought likely though - like the spread of Collared Doves which were no closer than south-east Europe (Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria) in 1930, but first reached, and bred in, the UK in 1955!

[Dogghound]

Just thought of another possibility common rosefinch. A few years ago we had three singing males on the coast however nothing happened. I guess they had a good breeding year, the year before and had pushed west.

[aeshna5]

With both Cattle Egrets + Purple Herons having had their first breeding successes in the last few years Great White Egret must be a strong candidate for a new breeding species.

As a real outsider how about Red-flanked Bluetail in the next decade? It's been showing a strong westerly expansion in its breeding range with now quite a few pairs breeding in Finland. This autumn had over 30 records this autumn- a real record. I think it's possible it might happen somewhere in the north. Maybe, maybe not, but fun speculating.

[RKB]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

Just thought of another possibility common rosefinch. A few years ago we had three singing males on the coast however nothing happened. I guess they had a good breeding year, the year before and had pushed west.

Several pairs bred over several years in the early 1990s. Being at the edge of Europe, we will always get sporadic breeders - Purple Heron etc might just be like the Little Bitterns and Little Gulls of previous decades. It's not the same as a colonisation. Even Cetti's Warbler isn't secure, and could be gone just as quickly as it came.

To look at Black Woodpecker's chances, look how long it took Great Spotted Woodpeckers to colonise Ireland! And they're much more common here than Blacks are on the near Continent. It's unlikely that we have the right habitat in any event - out woodland is too fragmented and too young.

[RKB]

Originally Posted by RoyW

Collared Doves which were no closer than south-east Europe (Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria) in 1930, but first reached, and bred in, the UK in 1955!

I think the first record is now accepted as 1952 in Lincs.