This young lesser spotted woodpecker flew into our kitchen window a few days ago. Birds often fly into this large window, mistaking the reflected sky for the real thing as they are winging their way to the far horizon, and instead the birds find themselves somewhat dazed and bemused, sitting on our patio, wondering how they got there. The thump against the glass generally alerts us to the incident, and we keep the cats out of the way until the bird has recovered, as they usually do, and fly back to the safety of the genuine sky from where they have just flown.
We didn’t hear this woodpecker hit the window, and one of the cats was eyeing him up when we spotted him on the patio – luckily his size made the cat think twice, a sufficient delay to allow us to rescue the bird. I carried him down the garden, and he fluttered out of my hand onto the trunk of a mountain ash, one of the trees at the bottom of the garden. He stayed there a while, as I pottered in the garden, but I later spotted him at the bottom of the hedge between us and fields at the back of the house, squeezing behind the compost bin. Since we think that there is a woodpecker nest in our neighbour’s garden, he may have been heading for home.
I was forking over the compost heap yesterday, as you do, and was taken by surprise by a grass snake. He was probably taken even more by surprise by the prongs of a garden fork, which luckily did not touch him. He gave me a bit of a glare, before slithering over the edge of the compost to retreat in the secluded gap behind. Since he didn’t didn’t stop to pose, this photo is courtesy of the internet.
Technically we live in Oaktree House, but sadly the tree had to go.
We now have a thriving Oakstump at the front of the house.
