British Great Spotted Woodpeckers rarely move very far. Of over 3360 ringed birds later found or retrapped only 5 birds have ever moved over 100km and the longest was from Kent to Wiltshire, just 194km. Well that record has just been beaten by a young female ringed in December 2020 at Mullock found predated in a garden in Godalming, Surrey 321Km away on 13th September 2022. There are just 2 foreign recoveries - one which hopped across the channel and a Norwegion bird which was found in Shetland (ship assisted?). Amazing stuff which got BTO staff very excited.
We often catch these at our ringing sites and also retrap them regularly. This bird was retrapped in January 2021 but never again so by then it was probably on its exploration of southern Britain.
