Woodpeckers and houses

I sometimes am asked about "what to do" when woodpeckers start to "attack" timber houses, holiday homes, log cabins and the like. Besides the actual holes made and damage done the noise when the birds hammer (perhaps outside a bedroom) can also be a problem. Now this behaviour is actually quite common but it is desirable that the occupants and owners of such buildings try to tackle the problem in a woodpecker-friendly way. Shooting or harming these birds is not the answer and indeed in most countries would be illegal. A simple solution is to hang ribbons, lines of tape or aluminium strips over the areas being hacked into, so that the bird cannot get at those spots and to generally just deter the bird. Though it deals mainly with North Amercan woodpeckers the following website is worth browsing. The background and methods suggested to deter woodpeckers are mostly valid for European species: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/wp_about/