Christine's walking & birds blog

He flew off but didn't go far; I could have stayed in the same place and still watched him, but Greger was at home with the beginnings of a cold and waiting patiently for a package that should have arrived yesterday, so I called it a day and went home to keep him company. As I walked away I heard a "chick" that might have been a second bird but I'm still not good on their calls. It might have been yet another great spotted.

The thrill of seeing these little woodpeckers never wears off. They're hard to find, hard to keep sight of once found, and blooming difficult, in these mature woodlands, to photograph. (No one's told them they're supposed to be a parkland bird.) But I will never do what I read on one photographer's blog; he walked through a wood where he'd heard that lesser-spots were to be found, playing a recording of the call. A lesser-spot responded - but on seeing where the call came from, immediately vanished again. Good!

Two mistle thrushes were on the fields, a dozen redwings were in the woods and a skylark was heard flying over.