Gould greatly admired the Green Woodpecker 'with its strongly contrasted colours of green, yellow and scarlet'. He added 'How desirable is it then that this fine bird should not be unnecessarily persecuted! When unmolested, it will not only inhabit our woods and fields, but frequently resort to our shrubberies, and trimly mown lawns, where its actions may be watched...prying for ants and other insects, which it secures by darting forth and retracting its long tongue.'

The watercolour shows the male (above) with the female feeding on ants, and a young bird in the background.

DISTRIBUTION: Western Eurasian distribution from British Isles through to western Russia, Turkey, and Iran and south to northwest Africa