The next generation

The fledgling great spotted woodpeckers usually arrive in the garden in the second week of June.  I first hear them calling in the tops of the trees as their parents collect food for them from the feeders.  Within a day or two they are brave enough to come nearer the feeders and after a day or two more they can fed themselves and are left to get on with it.  All this makes catching them on a photo quite challenging.  There is only a very short time window and they often sit on the wrong branch or on the wrong side of the tree or face the wrong way.  This year I was lucky although it was very early on a cloudy morning under the trees so the light was terrible but the camera coped remarkably well.

Here is another sequence.

And a short video.  It is interesting that the woodpecker chick will take a swipe at a blue tit even at this very young age.