A Drumming in the Woods

                The wood is still very wet underfoot after all the rain but the days are getting longer and there are certainly hints of Spring - buds are beginning to open, Bluebells are starting to push through the leaves and woodpeckers are getting into drumming mode. The Great Spotted is the most common in our wood. It is indeed a handsome bird with its contrasting black and white plumage and red flashes; the male has a red nape making it quite distinctive. One or two are regular visitors to my feeding area and for a largish bird they are surprising shy, heading off at the slightest disturbance. The rare Lesser Spotted is a very hard bird to see and a sighting does make it a red letter day for me. This is the prime time of the year to see them as the bare trees make it easier to pick them out and the males signal their territories by calling. Sparrow-sized they are a real challenge to photograph. Like their larger cousins, Lesser Spots also drum. Their drumming is more rapid and quieter, so with practice, it is easy to tell them apart. It used to be a common sound, heard in the right habitat but these days very rarely heard at all; there may be just 200 pairs now in the whole of Kent.

               The wood was full of sound today, a sign that it is coming to life. A large, restless  group of around 100 Redwings and Fieldfares were chattering away in the tops of trees. These winter visitors were gathering to start their journey back to Scandinavia, where they breed, so it is perhaps the last time I will see them in the wood. Elsewhere the usual crowd were using the feeders - Blue, Great, Cole, Marsh Tits, Nuthatches and a male Chaffinch. Next time I visit I will take the feeder down and bring it home to give it a good clean as bird flu remains a hazard and there will soon be enough food around for them to forage without my help.

The dapper Marsh Tit

The great Spotted Woodpecker at his favourite drumming place on a dead oak

Redwings

One of many Fieldfares getting ready to go north

Gorse in flower

the Bluebells are on the move too

The male Great Spotted Woodpecker

I'm off............

A Lesser Spot at the top of the canopy...wonderful !

A male Chaffinch, not often seen in the wood