Great spotted woodpecker Dendrocopos major
Well for such a large and distinctive bird it has few recorded old or colloquial names. However, Swainson gives 'Woodwall' from Hampshire, 'Wood pie' (Staffs) and 'Black and White woodpecker' from Norfolk, you can sure trust those good East-Anglian folk to get to the point, not poetic for sure, but they say what they see! From Leicestershire we get 'French pie', with apparently 'french' here meaning strange or uncommon. Actually, I'm not sure I disagree with them on that point, although one does wonder what they would have thought of baguettes. The other name in common usage was, of course, the Pied Woodpecker.
Actually, this sparsity of names is odd as both the Lesser-spotted and Green woodpeckers have quite a few each.
Actually, this sparsity of names is odd as both the Lesser-spotted and Green woodpeckers have quite a few each.
it has to be serendipity
had I got this website together with more alacrity I probably could not have posted any 'pecker images for, although I have a good number of GSW pictures, they're all totally .......
for me it was another of those 'one day' birds, as in 'I'll get some pictures one day'. They are so shy. I hear them, I will stalk as close as possible, peer up through the branches, and often rain, and just before I can get an angle they're off, usually to settle nicely in sight but miles away. When one flies close it will invariably settle around the back of a tree, and then of course climb out of sight so it can re-appear 10 metres above (or below!) where you're expecting it might, and by the time you adjust there are leaves in the way .... and then... it's off.
I am not the first person to experience this of course. Thomas Bewick (1826) says "It creeps with great ease in all directions upon the branches of trees, and is with difficulty seen, as it instantly avoids the sight behind a branch, where it remains concealed". I'm convinced their parents teach them just how to piss photographers about from the moment they hatch.
anyway, that 'one day' came, sitting quietly and hoping a generous safe distance from where I knew they nested I caught sight of mum with her kid flitting about, she was leading him around, he dutifully paying attention as she explained just how to treat photographers. Despite not being in a hide however this time they were mostly oblivious of my presence..... perhaps she was preoccupied showing her child where food really comes from.
Anyway, this is mum, remember the colours for ID? no red head markings is a female, males have red patch to back of head, a red forehead is a juvenile.
for me it was another of those 'one day' birds, as in 'I'll get some pictures one day'. They are so shy. I hear them, I will stalk as close as possible, peer up through the branches, and often rain, and just before I can get an angle they're off, usually to settle nicely in sight but miles away. When one flies close it will invariably settle around the back of a tree, and then of course climb out of sight so it can re-appear 10 metres above (or below!) where you're expecting it might, and by the time you adjust there are leaves in the way .... and then... it's off.
I am not the first person to experience this of course. Thomas Bewick (1826) says "It creeps with great ease in all directions upon the branches of trees, and is with difficulty seen, as it instantly avoids the sight behind a branch, where it remains concealed". I'm convinced their parents teach them just how to piss photographers about from the moment they hatch.
anyway, that 'one day' came, sitting quietly and hoping a generous safe distance from where I knew they nested I caught sight of mum with her kid flitting about, she was leading him around, he dutifully paying attention as she explained just how to treat photographers. Despite not being in a hide however this time they were mostly oblivious of my presence..... perhaps she was preoccupied showing her child where food really comes from.
Anyway, this is mum, remember the colours for ID? no red head markings is a female, males have red patch to back of head, a red forehead is a juvenile.
lichens
one of the joys of the highlands of Scotland (no it isn't the weather) is the clean air, and the abundance of lichens growing on trees this allows
here they provide a soft background palette of pastel green for mum's patterns of monochrome and pink (wasn't there an album by Caravan about that)
here they provide a soft background palette of pastel green for mum's patterns of monochrome and pink (wasn't there an album by Caravan about that)
juvenile
in nice green canopy light this juvenile has learned the leaning back against your tail posture characteristic of woodpeckers and is examining the bark closely. He still seems to have doubts about the whole 'bash your face into it' bit tho'. No doubt headbanging will come.
juvenile
he's moved here to get a better view of his mum,
and seems to be thinking something along the lines of '.... all this looking at tree bark stuff is fine but where's my bloody dinner'
and seems to be thinking something along the lines of '.... all this looking at tree bark stuff is fine but where's my bloody dinner'
well
"....try looking for it yourself",
they are only perhaps a couple of metres apart here, so obviously mum and child
they are only perhaps a couple of metres apart here, so obviously mum and child