Male Great-spotted Woodpecker foraging

This sequence of a male Great-spotted Woodpecker portrait and behaviour images were taken at Stithians Southern Cut-off hide during a very wet visit yesterday but the bird was not put off by the weather and foraged through tree barks continuously for over an hour.

Stithians today

There were a couple of birds present at Stithians southern cut-off hide today that I had not worked with at this location before. The first was a very shy Jay that seemed to arrive at the same time as the male Great Spotted Woodpecker which was not impressed and departed post haste,  The Jay seemed concerned about the hide so I closed all but one small viewing slot and waited quietly and it slowly moved out of cover enough for a clear image and eventually on to the ground to forage under the feeders. Nice bird !

My second new photo opportunity came from a very active Wren which I have seen here before but this was the first time that it spent long enough to achieve the  portrait image below.

 

There was no sight or sound of our usually busy and often noisy Little Grebes out on the water but there was a lone Cormorant fishing and I wondered was there a connection or a threat by the Cormorant's presence to the Little Grebes,  Checking along the margins I found the answer in a very quiet Little grebe hiding within the reeds

As soon as the Cormorant had finished fishing and departed the grebes were back on the case and soon catching plenty of Sticklebacks again

Other resident birds were showing as usual and it was nice to see a Goldfinch feeding on Pussy Willow instead of sunflower hearts

Of which the Reed Bunting below seems to have had more than his share

This image of the male Great Spotted Woodpecker was taken as it was stretching its neck to check out the unappreciated  arrival of the above Jay

late afternoon sunlight at Stithians

We called in at Stithians southern  cut-off hide on the way back from Kennell Vale yesterday afternoon and it was good to see the Water Rail show briefly but we were not sure if it ended up 'going to dinner' with the local Sparrowhawk that took something off the waters edge soon afterwards,  A new kid on the block came by way of a couple of feeding female Pintail ducks on which their colourful plumage looked immaculate,

As the afternoon progressed from what had been a dull day blossomed into lovely late afternoon sunlight which was complimented by several shows from both resident Great Spotted Woodpecker which ignored the feeders in the main to forage among moss covered tree limbs for grubs,  Excellent !  Three images below.

                           

Woodpecker 'Drumming' the Hide

It might sound pretty unlikely but while I was enjoying the peaceful ambiance of the hid at Stithians southern cut-off hide early AM yesterday morning,  The peace was shattered by the surprisingly loud hollow piercing sound of an unseen  male Great Spotted woodpecker 'Drumming' on the top outer front corner section of the hide on the right hand side just two meters from my head,  The bird was obviously not aware of my presence as it returned to repeat this performance twice more within the following hour,  No 'drumming' images I'm afraid but I did get a nice portrait shot when it turned its attention to the feeders. 

The 'drumming' had not been in vain as the female turned up shortly afterwards to see what all the noise was about, She also provided a good portrait from the far nicer feeder restructured position.

A male Bullfinch also put in an appearance

demonstrating it acrobatic capabilities to reach difficult blackberry seeds

One of the local Magpie which normally avoid the hide when viewers are present also came in to gain a little attention, 

What was intended as a quick visit became a five hour epic but Hey 'Its a lovely way to spend your Day!'

Recent Great Spotted Woodpecker portraits

Yesterday was a good day for close woodpecker shots at Stithians with six visits to the feeders photographed, Two of these included a pair perched close together before progressing onto the feeders.

Stithians bullfinch

The southern cut-off hide at Stithians reservoir came up with all the usual favourites pm yesterday including Great-spotted Woodpeckers, Water Rail, and Goldfinch, Perhaps a little more unusual
was the sudden influx of three Bullfinch, one female and two males all of which foraged around the feeder bases for around fifteen minutes,  The males seemed quite accepting of each other which provided the opportunity to capture two in one frame,