Green woodpecker and great tit courtship feeding

The remains of the caterpillar in the garden is still in the same place and covered in ant.

I miss walking through Easthill park each day now that our daughter walks home from school with a friend. As it was a nice sunny day and I was due to spend all day at the computer, I decided to go for a quick walk.

The park was alive with bird activity, blue tits, goldfinch, blackbird, chaffinch and green finch. Many were calling including blackbird, blue tit, great tit and robin. As I walked around I heard another unusual and loud bird call. I had heard this for the last couple of years, usually deep in the wooded area of Emmaus gardens where it was not visible. I suspected green woodpecker, but have not so far seen the bird making the call. Until today that is. This time the sound was coming from the trees across the road from the park. At the moment I spotted the bird it flew south east into the park. I could see it was a woodpecker by its distinctive shape in flight and it appeared to be larger than the great spotted woodpecker I have seen on many occasions in the park and reported in this blog.

As I made my way to the other side of the park I heard the bird calling again. I took a couple of pictures from a distance in case it flew away before I got their. As I got closer I could see it was definitely a green woodpecker. However as I went to take a photograph, the battery failed and I did not have time to change the batteries before it flew off. I followed the general direction but could not see or hear the woodpecker again.

I checked out the nest box that watched last year, following the blue tit nesting, but no activity so far.

I did see a pair of foraging great tit and also observed courtship feeding (below)

As I walked home I noticed several goldfinches on the kerb, feeding on dandelion seeds. I save noticed this on a few occasions over the last few days.