We have two peanut feeders in the garden, and it was the fact that this female great spotted woodpecker was breakfasting from the one close to the house that alerted me to the fact that her preferred one – hanging from the apple tree, a much safer distance away – must be empty. I was still in my dressing gown at the time – we’ve reached the stage of lockdown at which I can hardly see the point of getting into clothes – but I’m dead soft, and even though I knew I’d be doing myself out of further photo opportunities, I dutifully donned jeans, several jumpers, boots, and hefty jacket, and crunched out to fill it up. (And as predicted, the next time I saw a woodpecker – a male, this time – it was lunching at the apple tree, thirty yards from the kitchen door.)
Anyway, as I was out I did some snowy macro work, mainly of my usual mossy wall kind. I also made a quick attempt at freezing some soap bubbles, though I didn’t really think it was cold enough for this to work – and I was right, it wasn’t. I haven’t yet processed the moss shots, because I spent the afternoon and evening working on last Thursday’s portfolio of Baby B images, but if I find anything nice when I do get round to looking at them, I’ll post them to Facebook and let you know. For today’s blip though, I’m more than happy with this: I love great spotted woodpeckers, and to catch one at such close quarters, in the snow, was a wintry treat.