Below are a few shots of a Great Spotted Woodpecker. This is our most common woodpecker with between 25,000-30,000 breeding pairs, although it too has had hard times being all but non-existent in Scotland until 1887 when it re-colonised the country. In more recent times it has benefited from the dead wood resulting from Dutch Elm Disease.
It is similar in size to a Blackbird, with the male (shown here) having a red patch on the back of the head (the female has none and the juvenile has a red centre to its` crown). You may well hear it `drumming` soon, something it does in place of a song and it takes place in late winter and early spring. It is done by drumming its` bill on a branch and lasts for about 5 seconds and accelerates before fading away at the end.
Digiscoped using Lumix FS15 and Kowa TSN-883 x30
