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Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris)
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© Copyright by Alberto Masi - www.scricciolo.com
Status: Resident all year round
Scots Names: Tree Speiler
Size:
Habitat: Parks, gardens, all types of woodland,
churchyards and hedgerows.
Breeding:
Call Note: A soft "Seep". Very sweet and soft song with end
flourish
Status: GREEN
A walk through mixed woodland may give a sighting of one of our most attractive and delicate woodland birds, the treecreeper. It has many local names including brown woodpecker, creepy tree, bark runner, tree clipper and tree speiler, speiler being a scots word for climber. Its feet are adapted perfectly to climbing trees, moving upwards in a spiral around the trunk, whilst searching for small insects and their eggs in the cracks and crevices of the bark with its long, curved bill.
A fleeting glimpse would suggest a small bird with brown and cream plumage. However, when viewed at close quarters it has a beautiful and mottled array of markings from deep brown and buff to cream and rusty orange. It has a particular liking for the large wellingtonia or 'punch tree', where its long bill can probe into the soft bark, either in search of food or to excavate a potential nest site.
Look around the trunk for signs of treecreeper activity in the form of regular holes neatly dug out in the bark. Like some other woodland birds, its only real threat is a severe winter and though primarily insect eaters, colder weather may see them adapting to other food sources.