Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes

Scientists say that is rubbish. Why then did the green woodpeckers on my patch bray like donkeys last month as the Atlantic low loomed way beyond the Isle of Wight? They were not so vocal before.

But I also noticed how the nightingale, the mistle thrush, and all the other 40 different song birds tuned up as the humidity changed.

The French are certain of the woodpecker's weather forecasting, since it calls "pleu-pleu-pleu". The Danes call it Regncrake, which means Raincrow. In Austrian, it is Regen Vogel, or Rain-bird. American Indians have the same name.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette May 13