Two new species at the wood hide and pool.

 

This is a Goldcrest, Britains smallest breeding bird. I really good capture in front of the hide.

 It was just incredible at the wood this morning and that's not an exageration. If you are a bird crazy  amateur naturalist like me then imagine how thrilling this morning was. As soon as I had sat myself inside the hide, in fact before I had even got myself ready, a Greater - spotted Woodpecker was at the nuts. Then she...because it was a female........ was back and giving me a great photo opportunity.  But firstly let me tell you about the other exciting tiny little visitor, a Goldcrest - Regulus regulus, firstly it fluttered above the food and then it went down to the muddy puddle and started to bathe in the murky water amongst the decaying leaves.   Eventually I got some good photos but a mixture of excitement and the constantly moving little bird made it hard. These birds are Britain's smallest breeding bird along with the closely related Firecrest.

 

 

Its really hard to freeze the action unless the sun is really bright but the slightly blurred effect of the wing movements as it bathes adds to this I think.

 

The Woodpeckers, now both male and female came to the food constantly all through the session and I took some nice shots.  You may remember that I had said that it was only a matter of time before the woodpeckers found the food and it took 8 days!  Birds are using the pool to bathe constantly now which I thought would be the case once the standing puddles of the very wet April had disappeared.  Today the drinkers included, Song Thrush, Blackbirds, Coal, Great and Blue Tits, the Goldcrest of course, a Jay and the female Woodpecker. As  well as all of these, an unknown bird was bathing just in front of me, it was tucked behind a growing Foxglove and I couldn't see or photograph it properly but I think it was a Spotted Flycatcher, if so, the 3rdI have seen but still I haven't got a photograph.

 

Obviously a favourite drinking spot for the resident birds. This is a female Greater- spotted you can tell by the absence of red on the nape of the neck.

 

Here she is just checking out the food before coming down to take a peanut.

 

 

I think she may have been aware of the camera here.