It's amazing...

...what you learn when you are a Blipper.

First of all, apologies for the poor quality of this, but it was one of those opportunist shots - through the kitchen window at quite a distance.  I tried creeping out of the door, but the bird was spooked by a squirrel and disappeared quickly.

Those of you who know birds, will know that this is a male green woodpecker, as identified by the fact that it is predominantly green and has a red stripe where a moustache would be.  The female does not have this moustache stripe.  Apparently the bill is relatively soft so this young man would not be hammering away at trees at all, he does what he was doing this morning and pecks away at short grass in the hope of finding tasty bugs...  He was also much bigger than I expected a woodpecker to be.

Apart from that, I have been trying to sort out some prints for a mono print competition at the end of the month.  Printing and I are not a good combination.  I can never seem to get the resolution and the crop right for what I want to print...  Then I get frustrated and throw my toys out of the pram.  I'm going to have another go shortly.  Starting again.  Beware of flying toys...