Of Swifts and Woodpeckers

Yesterday morning when I went through to the kitchen I saw what I thought was a tatty looking Starling with a lot of white on its feathers. As I concentrated I saw the flash of red on its head and it slowly dawned on me that I was looking at a Greater Spotted Woodpecker enjoying a peanut breakfast. By the amount of red on its head it would appear to have been a juvenile. Unfortunately it spotted me as soon as I moved the camera to take a shot and it was gone in a flash. This is the first woodpecker I have seen in the garden and in fact the first I have seen for over fifty years. I am now hoping it returns so I can get a bit of video for the record.

Some days ago when I was sat in the garden watching the birds flying about I noticed a small group of Swifts. What surprised me was the height at which they were flying. A couple of times they were circling the same patch of sky, obviously taking advantage of a thermal to gain even more height.



I could only get some fuzzy shots of them as, at the height they were flying, the images were very small sections in the photo frame. I sat and watched them for about half an hour as they swooped around the sky at a fair old speed. I assume that there must be plenty of high flying insects for them to feed on.

The only other birds seen in the sky that day, apart from the local bird visitors, were a couple of seagulls heading inland.



Also spotted a couple of times at night, but still evading the camera, has been a Tawny Owl which uses the nearby telegraph poles as a perch.

No sign of the Hedgehogs for a few nights. I assume they are back on the late shift.