Great spotted woodpeckers are calling noisily in the treetops. They sometimes sit on the very pinnacle of a fir or larch tree making their “chack, chack” cries. The pairs are breaking up, and they will all live solitary lives until the spring. They quarrel over roosting holes and over good areas for feeding in, especially places with trees with rotting branches in which they can dig for wood-boring beetles. Their cries are warnings to rivals to keep off, and are sometimes addressed to the mate from which they just parted. When a dispute ends in a physical fight, as sometimes happens, they use another harsh churring note, rather like a mistle thrush’s call, and this can also be heard quite often at present.

They will not be heard drumming again until the New Year, but they can be heard tapping as they search for beetles. They have tongues like harpoons, with which they spear soft insects. When they find insects that have a hard carapace, they use saliva and the bristles on their tongue to pick them up.