ONE of the hardest things about managing nature reserves is looking after the trees.

It is a difficult act, trying to ensure people's safety from the risk of falling trees, while at the same time caring for the wildlife, which in many cases depend on trees which have either died or are in a poor condition.

However, one animal's lifestyle partly relies on dead trees - the woodpecker.

Three different species of woodpeckers can be found in England.

The largest is the green woodpecker, which can stands up to 33cm tall, the great spotted is 23cm tall and the lesser spotted which is only 15cm tall.

Apart from their size, both the greater and lesser-spotted woodpecker look quite similar as both are primarily black and white, with the mature males having what looks like a red cap on their heads.

The green woodpecker as its name suggests, is mainly green.

The mature males of this species also have a red patch on their heads. Another easy identifying feature of all woodpeckers is when in flight, they have a distinctive undulating flight path.

To help attract a mate and to advertise their ownership of areas of territory, woodpeckers rely on finding a suitable piece of standing dead wood, which they use to create a noise to advertise their presence over large areas.

The noise is called drumming and is produced by the woodpecker pecking the dead wood of the tree, causing it to produce a loud resonating note.

The woodpeckers also use their reinforced chisel-like beaks to construct nests in the standing dead wood.

They do this by hollowing out cavities in the dead trees in which they raise their young.

The greater and lesser spotted also hunt some of their food in the dead wood of the trees by listening to locate burrowing insect larva.

They then chisel a hole towards the insect and spear them with their long sticky tongues.

The excavations and holes are often recycled after the woodpeckers have finished with them.

These holes are frequently used to support other woodland creatures.

Hence, while every effort is made to keep nature reserves safe places for humans to visit, wherever possible, as much dead wood as is safe, is left for wildlife to enjoy.