A new visitor

[cleo]

We have a greater spotted woodpecker around

Stephan

[Spurdie]

What bonny birds they are! We know there are plenty around the woods near us, and we have seen the damage they do, yet we have never seen them! Some people a mile up the road have them visiting their garden for peanuts EVERY DAY, and yet we have never seen them here once!    I have seen them in Mum's old garden once, and at the peanut feeders at Loch Garten. They even managed to scare away the cheeky red squirrels!

[cleo]

Hi Spurdie

That`s interesting about them eating peanuts-showing my ignorance a  bit here but would they eat walnuts?. I ask because we normally lose some to squirrels but this year we lost almost all the fruit.

Stephan

[Palustris]

L.S.W's are a frequent visitor to our Peanut hangers. In Summer we had Mum and Dad taking the nuts to junior who was sat in the apple tree nearby. When in late Summer it came fot nuts on its own, the parents chased it away!
Even funnier was when we had 2 pairi plus off spring chasing each other round the garden.
Never seen them eating anything else, though they have carved out holes in the big Perry pear and the Ash tree.

[Spurdie]

Eric, you are so lucky to often see woodpeckers! I've HEARD that if you tap a tree trunk with a stone in springtime then a woodpecker will answer back. We have tried this for several years and it has never worked!  
Stephan, I've never heard of woodpeckers eating walnuts but yours may be sophisticated birds! I should think they'd managed to get into a shell easily enough - very sharp beaks!