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Woodpecker

The greater spotted wodpecker is still a regular visitor to the back garden but yesterday I was noticed a lot of starlings on the front lawn next door. One seemed to be moving oddly and taking a closer look I realised that there was a green woodpecker among them. I nave never had a change to watch one quite so closely and I was struck by its very stiff gait as it hopped and by the way the beak was held titled upwards, reminiscent of a cormorant.

It was digging quite intensively in one spot in a manner which explains the several holes that had appeared in my grass in recent months.

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