Great Spotted Woodpecker

Being up early with Bomble, while Helena sleeps in late again, seems to be a recurring theme. By about 8-30am, Bomble was sitting on the window sill of my study enjoying the sun shining down the valley again. He is alert for a short while after we feed him in the morning but then he goes off to sleep till mid-afternoon. I opened one of the windows beside him tentatively, as he likes to go out on to the external ledge which has a thirty foot drop to the patio.

I picked up my camera to try testing the zoom with views across the valley, with the early morning's mist behind the stark rays of the sun on the just budding oak trees in Oakey Grove, down by the stream. I didn't expect to get a blip as the there wasn't a particular subject.

Then a bird flew across my line of sight and I knew it was woodpecker flying up to perch on the electricity pole in the next door garden. I quickly swung round carefully avoiding Bomble who hadn't noticed the bird. I had about thirty seconds as the woodpecker ascended the wooden pole to it's final position near the top. You might just notice the pock marked wood on the pole, in the section where it is perched, marking its pecking activities of former visits. In the background you can see the shapes of the perched houses of Butterow, on the far side of the Golden Valley, above the river Frome.

We regularly see several Great Spotted Woodpeckers (or Greater Spotted Woodpecker), Dendrocopos major. The Green Woodpecker, Picus viridis, only rarely honours us with a visit, mostly on the grass in the back garden, although sometimes I have seen it burrowing into young stems on an ash tree next door.

In 2006, our neighbour rescued a baby Great Spotted Woodpecker from the jaws of Gentle, her rescue cat at the time. I suggested that we take it to the local vet in Bowbridge, just at the bottom of our valley, as it seemed to have some damage and probably was in shock. The vets were very good and rang us later to tell us that it had recovered and they had released it successfully.

Gentle, who was the most belligerent and ugly cat I have ever known, was re-homed by Tess, a friend of Helena, to become the rat-catcher on an industrial estate in Bridport, Dorset. We gather he is now very happy and has been featured on the website of the Tess' business.

It seems that despite my misgivings about my boring nature shots with few 'unusual' images or people being featured here for ages, I have been lucky to react to events around me and record wildlife in their local habitats. We do love 'Woodies'.

EDIT
I have decided to put a range of recent pictures on this web Gallery. Hoping you might enjoy a few more nature shots.
Some of my nature pictures in April 2011