Greater Spotted Woodpeckers (Male and Chick).

Wow thats a fantastic picture Alan, Im so envious! you are priledged to have these lovely birds in your Garden , look forward to seeing your blog;0)

Thanks Carole, we don't take these for granted, we are very lucky that they come to visit. All we can do is keep the feeders and coconuts stocked up and keep our fingers crossed. Incidentally we haven't seen the female for a while ... just wondered if we may get another chick visiting soon.

beautiful markings :-) iam guessing by what iam seeing in your photo the male has no red tipped head? and females do?
or just youngsters do?
great photo thank you for sharing with us the nature in your garden!

Jane, youngsters only have the red caps. Males red neck, female just black and white. All have bright orange under tail feathers. Glad you enjoyed it.

thank you for saying :-) i think you may have said before now i think about it :-) i will try and remember for future reference :-)

Wonderful capture Alan.

Thank you Klahanie, it's been wonderful watching them.

Fantastic picture Alan and what nice visitors to have in your garden. I'm looking forward to blog!

Paul, blog now available. Glad you like it.

Great photo. Added to my favourites, and nominated for GOYpaedia

Thank you Andrew. Glad you like it.

Fantastic pic alan, you should send it to bbc springwatch!

Sarahm, glad you like it. I have actually sent it to Granada Reports (ITV), as they sometimes show viewers photos, as a backdrop to the weather forecast, after the news. I'll will send it to springwatch and see what happens.

Wow I feel fantastic when I see our robins. But that picture is something else. Fantastic

I always wondered how they can peck a hole in a tree without crushing their skulls. It defies the laws of physics. Hollow bones!!?

Thank you W1nk, it has been so much fun seeing them each morning. Glad you enjoyed the photo. There is actually a second chick now. I will do a blog (probably Sunday) with some photos of the two chicks.

Paul, fully understand your question. If we banged our head against a tree all day we'ed have a broken nose and a terrible headache. I guess they are intelligent enough to pick a rotten tree trunk..... <]:-))

Even with a rotten tree they sound like a jack-hammer on steroids, sometimes they'll try a house with aluminum siding and it sounds like an AK47, LOL! We have the red-hooded woodpecker over here.

I'll take a look on the internet tomorrow, (Sorry later today for me). I'm always interested in learning.|

Fantastic photograph. Hope the chick is still doing well.

Hi Lindak, there are actually two chicks now. On 2nd June I did a blog with some photos of the chick, with its Dad. I now have a few photos of the two chicks which I will put in a blog tomorrow, (Sunday 8th June). Glad you like the photo.

I'll have a look Alan. My sister in Suffolk gets the green woodpecker in her garden.

I have never seen a green woodpecker in real life. Only on the TV. Torrential rain here at the moment, with thunder and lightening. No chicks appeared yet. My golf is cancelled. I will do chick blog later today.

Great shot.

Thanks Len. How's the lawn doing?