A bird which was once a common sight and sound in Ireland's vast forests, has been heard for the first time in Cork for centuries.
The Great Spotted Woodpecker was marked as 'extinct' in Ireland in the late 17th or early 18th century, following the felling of their woodland habitats to make way for farms, Cork Beo reported.
Despite the unlikely 'vagrant' or lost bird, veering into Irish territory from the UK, there were no breeding populations of The Great Spotted Woodpecker in Ireland, particularly on the west coast, for centuries.
