Breakfast

I was making my breakfast this morning when I spotted this green woodpecker hunting ants on the top lawn. I'd rather not have shot her through a double-glazed window, obviously, but being ground feeders, green woodpeckers are very nervous and flighty, and I knew she'd almost certainly dematerialise if I risked opening the door, leaving just the echo of her yaffling alarm call behind her.

This is an adult female - distinguished from a male by the lack of a red moustache, and from a juvenile by the absence of dark speckling on her breast, and pale flecks on her wings. We generally have green woodpeckers nesting here - either down in our wild garden, or very close by - and I always enjoy seeing the parents bring their newly fledged young into this area to teach them the locations of the best ant nests. I haven't witnessed this happening this summer though, so I have no way of knowing if they bred successfully or not. Bird numbers generally have plummeted in our garden since the spring - possibly because of the drought, or maybe avian flu' - and this has been causing me quite a lot of concern, so I was relieved as well as pleased to see one of our less common neighbours today.

As you can see from the background here, I don't just talk the talk when it comes to a messy, wildlife-friendly garden. I'd like it to be known though that I did pull a few weeds this afternoon, and I've also earmarked some ridiculously overgrown sections of the borders for a light trim before the cold weather sets in.