Now with moving pictures! (And lots of Lesser-spots…)

What an absolutely beautiful morning! Blue skies, birds singing, not many people about early – all excellent reasons for getting up and out there. In the last few weeks, I’ve had a few failed attempts at seeing Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in various places, so I decided to make a really early start and try to sort them out once and for all.

And after a bit of wandering around in the still-rather-chilly post-dawn air: well, look who it is, trying unsuccessfully to hide:

Over the course of the next three hours, I had great views of at least two male birds, calling occasionally and drumming almost non stop. I took quite a few photos as you might imagine, though didn’t quite get the killer shot this time… so I might just have to put myself through the hardship of watching these little gems again!

And finally, for the piece de resistance, we have video! Clearly a tripod would have improved matters significantly (I hope the wobbling doesn’t make you feel too seasick!), but for a first stab at 7D movies, it’s not too bad.

There you go… almost as good as the real thing. You can’t tick it, though!