European green woodpecker but is made sticky by secretions from the enlarged salivary glands. Heavy, prolonged snow cover makes feeding difficult for the green woodpecker and can result in high mortality, from which it may take 10 years for the population to recover. Ant nests can be located under the snow; one bird was observed to dig 85 cm to reach a nest. 'Professor Yaffle', the wooden bookend character in the 1974 children's animation series "Bagpuss", was based loosely upon the green woodpecker. 'Yaffle' was among many English folk names for the European green woodpecker relating to its laughing call; others include laughing
English markers of habitual aspect English markers of habitual aspect The habitual aspect is a form of expression connoting repetition or continuous existence of a state of affairs. In English when present time is referred to, there is no special grammatical marker for the habitual; the simple present is used, as in "I go there (every day)." However, for past reference English uses the simple past form or either of two alternative markers: "used to" as in "we used to go there (every Thursday)", and "would" as in "back then we would go there (every Thursday)". The form [would + infinitive] is employed to talk