More Green Woodpeckers

Okay, I’m getting the hang of these Green Woodpeckers now. You wait for three hours and see nothing. You hear a call, a Woodpecker emerges from a hole and, eventually, its mate replaces it. It’s the emerging from the hole bit which is tricky to catch. I’m not able to get much practise. I have approximately a tenth of a second every three hours to get the shot I want. And if I’m pouring a cup of tea at the time? Tough. I never used to swear before I took up bird photography. I was famously known as ‘the man who never swears’. Now I silently mouth the most terrible of terrible words inside my chair hide.

Here’s the male of the pair. He is sporting a bright red moustache, which the female doesn’t have. Handsome and dashing, huh?

I love the way they hop up and down the textured bark of this oak.

I’ll come back again in a couple of days. I suspect it’ll be easier to photograph them when they’re going in and out feeding chicks rather than just keeping eggs warm and cosy. I might have more chance of success.

Might.