Surprises and a Shock

I’ll start with the happy surprises. Today I was walking along a tree lined field boundary and I noticed lots of white bird droppings at the base of a tree, I followed the white splatters up the trunk to a hole and saw some wee dark eyes peering down at me! At first I wondered if they were sparrowhawk chicks but having done some research I can confirm that they are in fact kestrel chicks.

This morning I also had a walk round “woodpecker wood” again, following the sounds of “chooks” . I saw a group of woodpeckers and spent some time trying to photograph them. Unfortunately the light was poor this morning and the woodpeckers very active. However, I photographed enough to identify at least one woodpecker fledgling! Probably the one I had previously been photographing poking his head out the nest hole.

The above image is enough to show that the red on top of the head is at the fore, above the eyes. Male adult woodpeckers also have red on their heads but behind black. Here is a male adult photograph.

And here is the juvenile I saw climbing up a trunk this morning. See how the red cap is at the front of the head rather than the back.

So I’m delighted that the woodpecker family are doing well. However, I’m learning some hard realities about nature and how cruel it can seem. Woodpeckers themselves predate on other birds’ nests. One bird’s family is another bird’s meal or meal for another family. I’m afraid the dipper chicks have most likely been predated. I got a shock to see this yesterday. Probably it was a corvid such as a crow, jackdaw or magpie that had raided the nest. Corvids are clever and cunning birds and they work out where nests are and when to take the opportunity to raid them. They perhaps were disturbed mid raid and this poor wee one was left dangling.

Dippers can have a second brood so maybe the adult pair will try again later. They were so busy feeding their chicks last week this seems such a shame. However I am learning that this is just the way of things.