SS15 wildlife watching

This blog was set up in mid-March 2020 during the emerging COVID-19 health crisis in the UK. It initially aimed to provide records of wildlife sightings and photographs from sites within walking distance of my home in the SS15 postcode area of Basildon in Essex during lockdown travel restrictions. Even though the pandemic has largely subsided, this blog continues to include my local wildlife sightings, my trips away from home plus some personal thoughts and reflections on other issues.

Thursday 14 September 2023

Record from my flat - Great Spotted Woodpecker

I often hear Great Spotted Woodpeckers calling from the wooded area adjacent to or close to my flat but I rarely see the birds.

This evening when I was in my kitchen, I heard a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker and quickly spotted it on top of the TV aerial on one of the houses. Clearly, it hadn't got the memo about calling from trees! However, after several minutes repeatedly calling from this location, it did eventually fly off to a nearby tree.

I didn't expect this bird to remain on the TV aerial for so long but it duly did so, thus enabling me to get some distant cropped record photos.