Out of the Woods

Its been very, very windy, and with more rain than we would ever want, but mild by our winter standards.

To our eyes, there's not many obvious signs of wild, takeaway food in the woods: berries are well stripped from hedges and trees, perhaps conifer seed and oak acorns are in short supply right now: the lone peanut feeder in the garden, has certainly repaid its keep, hosting a nice eclectic selection of 'woodlanders'.

Siskin (c.OOS)

Nomadic Siskins, right on cue, arrived back with us, third week of February. Normally you could describe birds popping right up, but its upside down, in their case!  They routinely select a feeding position that might give many others a headache.. as agile as any tit species, perhaps they are well used to hanging upside down to reach birch and alder seed in the forest.  Its worth reminding ourselves that they are relatively recent garden colonists (1963 onwards) and their populations have benefited from afforestation with coniferous plantations, particularly of Spruce to their liking.

Another welcome garden visitor, on the up, but until last week, not 'bothering' to feed from the peanut feeder, is the Jay.  I suspect their acorn store is exhausted and the peanut feeder is now on their daily rounds..

Jay (c.OOS)

So that brings us to our final pick, the Great Spotted Woodpecker that has faithfully popped in to visit the peanut feeder, daily, since Christmas Eve..  I'll miss this female when she retires to the oak wood to breed: perhaps she will return with a brood of youngsters come June/July!

GSW (c.OOS)