Feeling Peckish?

A change of scene today as we visited our daughter in Aberdeen and after going the messages we headed to Duthie Park for a walk.

My daughter had seen (spotted?) two Great Spotted Woodpeckers flying around in the branches of one of the trees a few weeks ago and has been a regular visitor to see them since then.  Last week she was very excited to hear some chattering coming out of the entrance to their nest which they have pecked out in the tree.

Woodpeckers have a brood of 4-7 eggs so that’s a lot of mouths to feed.  As you can see in the main photo the woodpecker has a lot of grubs in its bill.  They find insects and larvae in the bark and dig them out with their strong bills to take back to the nest to feed their young.

In the extras you can see the grubs more clearly and also the tree entrance and the exit into and from their nest.