On Sun, 21 Dec 2014 14:05:25 +0000, Jeff Layman
wrote:



Most scattered now by the arrival of one of our Greater spotted woodpecker.

Yes, we have one of those as a local thug too! GSW are bullies, happily
scaring smaller birds off, but seemingly scared of their own shadows -
as soon as I walk into the room they are off, whereas most of the tits,
sparrows, and the like stay on.

One of the most amusing clips a wildlife camera caught here was the
arrival of a GSW on the nut feeder with an exodus of blue tits, but
only for about 40 seconds, the Tits regained their composure on a
nearby bush and then returned en masse more or less pushing the
woodpecker out of the way. It came back later when things were
quieter. One young woodpecker would tolerate me gently approaching as
close as 10ft from the feeder but reverted to the normal off at the
first sign of presence as it got older.

G.Harman



G.Harman