Woodpeckers spotted in Nenagh district

Have you heard a mysterious tapping or drumming sound on trees or electricity poles lately in the Nenagh district? Well, if so, it’s unlikely to be someone putting up election posters just yet. It’s more likely to be a bird that seems to be increasingly making its presence felt in Ireland over the last two decades – the woodpecker.

A woman in Ardcroney contacted our offices last week to inform us of the presence of woodpeckers in the district.

She revealed that her husband had been talking to a member of an ESB crew who had been assessing possible damage caused to the company’s poles by woodpeckers in Portroe and Rearcross.

We then got on to Nenagh amateur bird enthusiast Philip Talbot, proprietor of Talbot’s Menswear store in Mitchel Street, who told us he personally had never seen a woodpecker in Nenagh but  had heard they were in the locality.

“A woman from Dromineer dropped into the shop here last year to inform me that she had a woodpecker visiting her garden,” said Philip. “She identified it as a great spotted woodpecker, but there doesn’t seem to be many of them around this locality.”

Philip said he spoke to a local ESB crew member last week who showed him photographs on his phone of the damage great spotted woodpeckers were doing to ESB poles in some parts of the country.

ELUSIVE CREATURE

Over the past year this particular breed of woodpecker has been appearing at the bird feeder of the award winning poet Eleanor Hooker and her husband Peter at their home close to Dromineer.

“They are an elusive creature, and I first heard them pecking at trees when I was going for walks last year,” said Eleanor.

Within the past twelve months four great spotted woodpeckers were turning up at the same time at her bird feeder to feast on food she had left out. “It was just an amazing sight. When I saw these strange birds I immediately went to look up what they were and discovered they were woodpeckers.

“They have beautiful colourings of red and black and white feathers. They are just extraordinary,” said Eleanor.

Up to two decades ago there was very little evidence of woodpeckers in Ireland. But now they are making their presence felt, particularly in the eastern counties of Wicklow and Wexford.

Last November The Irish Times reported that they were proving to be a headache and an increasing cost for the State’s electricity network operator.

The newspaper reported: “Relentless pecking at ESB poles by the great spotted woodpecker - becoming increasingly spotted in the country, across Leinster and as far afield as Kerry and Mayo - has emerged as a problem in parts of the ESB network, particularly in the southeast.”

Damage caused by woodpecker to electricity poles have even led to power outages as ESB crews work to repair the damage caused by the “drumming” of the hard-beaked bird, the newspaper stated.

ESB Networks confirmed that “performance issues” can occur in parts of the network from time to time as a result of birdlife damage to electricity poles.

In certain parts of Wicklow last year, ESB Networks carried out substantial upgrade work to sections of network, some of which required “the replacement of woodpecker-damaged poles.”

The woodpecker’s “drumming” can lead to holes in poles, which leaves the wood vulnerable to rot, forcing the network to remove and replace the poles, resulting in the scheduled power outages.

ESB Networks has also confirmed that the woodpeckers are starting to migrate further inland, causing more concern for the company.

Woodpeckers are protected legally and their nests should not be interfered with. Birdwatch Ireland says the species were formerly absent from Ireland until around around 15 years ago when a small number of the great spotted variety appeared to have flown across the Irish Sea from Wales to Co Wicklow and from Scotland to Co Down. “Since then, the species has slowly but surely been increasing its population and expanding into new areas, which has been wonderful to see.”

In an effort to keep track of the expansion of these beautiful birds and to help protect them, Birdwatch Ireland would be most grateful if you would please register your woodpecker sighting at the following: www.birdtrack.net.