I'm still trying to get the perfect photo of a flying Great - spotted Woodpecker. It wasn't until almost 4 o'clock that the weather improved and it became bright enough to bother but when it did clear up I went back up to the site at nearby Haldon Forest. As I walked from the car towards the area that I have been baiting with peanuts a woodpecker was there on the remains of the nuts! I was pleased to see it but I also knew that the bird would be spooked for a while. I waited for quite a while before any birds returned, both a juvenile and then an adult male. Two birds that I have got to know quite well, they both come regularly whenever I am there. I was particularly excited because I had prepared things really thoroughly and I was hoping that the plan would work well. I have learnt that the birds like to take peanuts back to the favourite tree in a direct line from the stump. I loosely tied twine around the tree and led it down to the stump about 30 feet away. I could then see the height and trajectory of the flight down. Half way along this line I then inserted a stick to the height of the twine and then removed the twine. I now had a marker at the right height and distance to mark the correct flight path. Once I was sat behind the camera I could focus accurately on the stick and therefore have the camera set up perfectly so that when the woodpecker flew along this plane it would be in focus. Now with a woodpecker on the tree, I waited and waited for it to fly down. When it eventually did, I pressed the shutter on burst mode and hoped that it had passed through the viewfinder. It grabbed a peanut and flew back in the other direction and I pressed the shutter again. For some obscure reason, I didn't capture the flight on the way in but on the way back I was pleased to see that I had achieved success. believe it or not, even with the shutter speed set to 1/4000 sec it still hadn't frozen the wing movement, and there was some motion blur, woodpeckers obviously fly really quickly. Today, at last, we have sunlight so I am hoping that later in the morning I will be more successful when I have another try.
PS: Young Great - spotted Woodpeckers have red on the head and adult males have a red nape but no red on the head. It will be interesting to observe when the juvenile males start to show the red nape, it is probable that there will be a period when young males have both red heads and a red nape.
Recent Comments