I make no apologies for this large series of images, it is the first time I have seen a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the wild and trust me I have looked and along with that my camera was ready and poised for action. I believe this is a female as the males have a red spot on their heads which doesn’t appear to be there and it was absolutely heavenly to watch her move around looking for bugs in the bark. A very happy moment in what was a lovely sunny Sunday – its gone back to dreary cold glove weather, what can you do eh. 

What could be finer. 

So tricky to capture, but so worth it.  I am still aiming for a cleaner shot. 

Gathering nesting material. 

And very pretty she was too.

needs no explaining.. From their elegant elongated stance, to the beauty of what must be a more mature birds coat. The clothes designer in me stood and gasped as I pictured just how nice a heron’s asymmetrical cloak of greys, white, ermines and blacks, with layers and ripples and pleats, in silk, velvet and feathers would look as I swooshed my way up the town. It would be glorious.