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Great Spotted Woodpecker family & GBBD

What fun this young Woodpecker family was to watch from the observation window at the Visitor Centre of SWT Loch of the Lowes. They stayed a while as Mum pecked out peanuts from a feeder, ground them down in the crack of a tree branch and fed her newly fledged chicks. Interestingly she was seen feeding only one chick at a time and the others waited their turn.

The Time has just flown by since the capture of the video and photos below back on June 7th. I expect that by now those newly fledged Great Spotted Woodpecker chicks are fending for themselves. I might guess that they are sticking together like other fledglings do too.

This Woodpecker family stayed a while at the feeders allowing me the opportunity to capture both photos and video which was a nice treat. I don’t see woodpeckers in my garden (no old mature trees) so this was the first time I had seen woodpecker young and I couldn’t believe how mature and pretty they looked.

For those with a bit more time to blog browse you can see some snippets of the action in my video below. It begins with one of the young on a branch failing to keep Mum’s attention and ends with a Great tit pair watching how the Great Spotted Woodpecker Mum manages to get Peanuts out from the bottom of a feeder. When her back was turned they tried this too. Note you can select the HD quality to view and there is background music with this video. I had fun choosing it 🙂

Meanwhile back in my garden, seeing the birds on the ground from my window is a tad tricky. With the rainfall we have had the foliage in my border is lush and full. I placed a birdbath pedestal deliberately in a planting of low grasses in the hope of catching some nice bird photos. Yay it worked!

Blackbird juveniles are the ones that have been entertaining me in my garden recently. New ones seem to appear every other day. By the way the parents are still going away with beakfuls of sunflower heart seeds there will be more to come too.

Gosh, I can’t believe it is the 15th of the month already and time to post what flowers and in Bloom just now. We’ve had a fair bit of rain and working and getting photos in the garden has been tricky. I got some pretty ones the other week but haven’t had time to post them but the images below say it all.

Yay… it’s dry and breezy this morning so instead of sorting and collecting photos for GBBD my pond build and grass turf is calling me more. So for the today I’ll give a list. I am liking the way some of my borders are taking shape just now and plan some border posts where all the blooms will be seen in place for my own records too.

To see many sumptuous images of what’s blooming around the world today head over the Carol’s at May Dreams Gardens and follow the links. It’s fun to see all the gardens and to take part. It’s a great way to meet other garden bloggers too 🙂

Today, 15th July 2012, in flower in my back garden are:
Cirsium rivulare ‘Atropurpureum’; Heucheras, many around borders; Spotted leaf orchid; Astrantias new ones dark red and white (I’ll come back with names when I find the labels); Clematis’Niaobe’; The clematis above, Rouge Cardinal; Wisteria sinensis ‘Alba’ (still a few ones hanging around as this was late to flower); White Campanula bells (another I’ll come back to with name); Saxifrage ‘London Pride’ (a few flowering stems remain); Alliums a few (I’ll come back with names); Cranesbill Geraniums: Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ (a few flowers left on divided plant); Thyme; Red Campion and last hellobore flowers going over. Oh yes and the perennial wallflower ‘ Erysimum ‘Bowles’ Mauve’. Think that’s it. I have lots of foliage in my back garden.

Flowering in my sunnier front garden is a sumptuous deep dark velvet red Rhododendron ‘didymium’ that can be seen below. This photo was taken back on the 7th of July and the flowers are still there pretty much like this but dry today. I’m enjoying the changing colour pallet in my front garden very much.

The front garden list reads as: ‘ Erysimum ‘Bowles’ Mauve’ again; Alliums (smaller pink ones that I must get the name of as they are spreading well); Heucheras; Penstemon Raven; Rose ‘Cardinal de Richelieu’; Clematis ‘Picardy’; Osteospermum ‘stardust’; Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’; Pink Cranesbill Geraniums; Allium ‘Purple Sensation’; Nepata ‘Walkers Low’; Stipa gigantea; Red Campion and waiting for the sun a deep red day lily. Think that’s it there too. Plan to take some border shots here soon once a few more flowers come out.

Happy GBBD to all taking part! Happy gardening, bird and wildlife watching to all 😀

This post was written by Shirley for shirls gardenwatch in July 2012.

14 thoughts on “Great Spotted Woodpecker family & GBBD

  1. Loved the video Shirley. What fun seeing the Momma woodpecker feeding her young. I am afraid that if I put out a feeder like this the squirrels would destroy it trying to get at the peanuts. You have some beautiful blooms too. Some I have never heard of before. They give me a bad case of the wants. 🙂 Happy GBBD.

  2. Lovely woodpecker shots – recently we were lucky enough to have a young great spotted pecking at the fat ball feeder. Hope it comes back

  3. Hi Liz. Those pictures of the woodpeckers are just beautiful.It must have been so much fun to watch them feeding baby.

  4. How wonderful to not only be able to watch the woodpecker family but also to get the photo. I like your mega soggy flowers

  5. Hello everyone, I’m delighted that you caught this post on the woodpeckers – what an absolute treat this was to see.

    I emailed the reserve with a link to the footage and got a reply saying “The young GSWs are now very independent and visit us every day – the parents do as well but they all seem to live quite separately now”

    I completely understand how the garden/outdoors beckons more than the computer at this time of year. I appreciate you taking time to leave your comments 😀

    Lisa, Thanks me too, it was tricky editing out other footage. Yep, that feeder would attract grey squirrels here. At this reserve these feeders are put out with hinged roofs to attract our native red squirrels – it’s always funny to see them disappear inside. Thanks, I have to make time to capture quick shots of my present blooms but with muddy hands at my pond area my camera stays indoors. Oh yes… GBBD is always a case of the bad wants 😉

    Sue, Thanks, I really was thrilled to see this for the first time and to get footage and pics too keeps this moment forever now. How lovely to hear you’ve had a young ‘un at your feeder. I hope it comes back too and you get some photos too 😀

    Crystal, it was a very lucky visit to see the feeding of the young. I’ve seen the adults many times on visits to this reserve. Capturing the moment the Great tits arrived was fun and very quick too – I was lucky the video camera was rolling then 😀

    Alison, Thank-you! HAPPY GBBD to you too – grabbing quick photos at an observation window in a small visitor centre with all the reflections of people moving around behind looking at a screen with a live link to a young Osprey and his famous Mum can be a challenge. I always mute the sound as it captures all the conversations but it would be fun to leave that track in sometimes. Everyone is so enthusiastic and interested in what is going on 😀

    Lona,Thank-you, I had great fun both taking the photos and watching this family. A memorable moment to treasure 😀

    Helen, Absolutely, I had a good seat at this not too long viewing window as everyone behind me was watching the live link to a camera on a famous Osprey nest on the other side of the loch. There is always a lovely buzz at this visitor centre with regular locals/members, tourists and families especially Grandparents bringing young children at this time of year when the schools are off. Add that to a mix of enthusiastic SWT staff and volunteers and it’s well worth the drive. Thanks, I captured a few more soggy flowers but needed longer to sort them and had the woodpecker footage I was more desperate to share. Fingers crossed, I’ll get my pond liner down very soon 😀

    Noel, aloha 🙂 I’m delighted you enjoyed seeing woodpeckers too – that’s exactly why I keep blogging so I can share moments like this 😀

  6. Brilliant clear stills and video of the Woodpeckers. You obviously hand an enjoyable time watching them. The sight of the Great its at the end was very amusing.

  7. Hi Shirl 🙂 How lovely to be able to observe them so closely. The photos are lovely and the video very entertaining I have had the odd GSW visit my garden (that I know of) but have never managed any photos.

    You have a lovely list of garden flowers, it must all look a picture 🙂

  8. What fabulous photos of the woodpeckers! We actually have quite a few in our area (we're surrounded by forest), but I've never seen the young ones. Loved your images–thanks for sharing!

  9. Hello everyone, delighted to see more people have caught these images 🙂

    Sue, thanks for the link, great capture – I enjoyed seeing it 🙂

    John, thanks, I was pleased with the quality especially when there were all the reflections on the inside of the glass with everyone walking around behind me. Yes, we always enjoy our visits here but this one was special as was the great tits feeding behind Mum GSW’s back 🙂

    Jan, yes, that really was a special treat to see for everyone visiting that day. Brilliant, I take forever trying to pick and crop the video clips to use and my plan is always to make them entertaining 🙂 Ah… great to hear you too see GSW visit your garden too – perhaps you could try to capture some video? Thanks, the borders are filling up nicely and one day when it’s not raining and I am having a break from pond works I’ll grab some border shots – for my records too 🙂

    Julie, hello and thanks for popping by and following my blog! Thanks, I do hope you get a chance to see, photograph & video the woodpeckers near you one day 🙂

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