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I think we've been woodpeckered (originally put in wildlife gardening accidently)

Sue & MuttonSue & Mutton Posts: 125
in Problem solving
Hi, our maple looks like it's been shot at! I'm assuming the woodpecker has been around. What do I do now? It looks hollow and not the best of specimens but is full of bud ready for spring, if it makes it that far. Should I just put netting or similar around it to stop it being got at. There's a nice fat juicy slug inside the top hole that I can't get at but Woody could- which is why I suppose he's been doing what he's been doing in the first place. Many thanks :-)

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  • rachelQrtJHBjbrachelQrtJHBjb Posts: 819
    When you say maple, do you mean a sycamore? Is all the damage, including the lowest scar, attributable to the woodpecker? If the tree is hollow inside I suspect the it is already suffering from a disease. I love woodpeckers and would do nothing myself, but if it's a much loved tree you could try loosely wrapping the trunk in chicken wire to prevent it making holes.
  • Sue & MuttonSue & Mutton Posts: 125
    Hi, this is one of it's brothers - it is a maple isn't it? Yes, they've all appeared within the last week. The very bottom scar is long standing - I had a honeysuckle growing through it up until October - perhaps Woody was just biding his time till he could get at it! Thanks for your reply
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    The woodpecker will have been after the insect grubs inside ... and the grubs will only be there if the trunk has rot in it, so the tree is probably on it's way out ... but until it collapses it's a fantastic food resource for wildlife ... woodies included.  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Agree @Dovefromabove, don't think woodpeckers attack perfectly healthy trees. I would let them burrow
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    The greater spotted woodpeckers in our garden make complete round holes with no jagged edges. Our old bramley has had the holes for over 50 decades and is still producing fabulous fruit.
    The pecker holes here are a way to allow other birds to use them as nesting sites and then the peckers have a good food source later in the spring.
    It is all part of nature and we still love seeing them in our garden
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    50 decades? Shurely shome mishtake?
    Rutland, England
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    In big old trees the woodpeckers start holes which often become bat roosts. Unless it is in danger of falling onto something in high winds, I would leave it.
  • Sue & MuttonSue & Mutton Posts: 125
    Thanks everyone - do you think it is definitely a woodpecker "problem" then? Could it be wasps? Or not at this time of year
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited January 2021
    Not wasps ... not at this time of the year ... but also wasps ‘lick’ wood to rasp off the surface to make their papery nests ... they might make a nest in an old woodpecker joke in a tree, but they don’t drill holes themselves. 
    Definitely woodpeckers. 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Sorry @BenCotto yes a mistake the bramley is at least 50 years old not decades. Again sorry!
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