AWARDS: ENGLAND / WILTSHIRE / LAKE DISTRICT / WALES / SCOTLAND / COAST OF S.W. ENGLAND / COAST / STORMS / LAKES & MOUNTAINS / WINTER LANDSCAPES / DESERTS / ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY / BRITISH BIRDS 1 / BRITISH BIRDS 2 / BRITISH MAMMALS / BRITISH INSECTS / WORLD BIRDS / WORLD MAMMALS / NATURE
GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER
I photographed this Great Spotted Woodpecker from my garden bird hide. To attract the woodpecker, I cut a groove down the length of a log with a chainsaw and filled the groove with lard and peanuts. The log was then positioned in from of my hide so the groove was at right angles to my line of sight, out of view. A diffuse background was provided by the evergreen foliage of a giant redwood tree, about 20 metres beyond the log. I had to wait a little over an hour for the woodpecker to arrive. There was sufficient lard and peanuts to keep it busy for several minutes while I made my images using a 400mm telephoto lens.
F/8, 1/1000th second, ISO 320
Accepted: Cheltenham 2016
