A Peat Pecking Woodpecker
Posted: 26 January 2015
It was just before 15:00 that I saw a Woodpecker - but it wasn't pecking wood.
Standing on the edge of a mole hill it seemed to be digging deep into a hole in the surrounding grass. It seems it's not unusual to see a woodpecker behaving in this way, but up till now I'd only seen them in trees, and then they were normally drawn to my attention because they were - what else, but pecking wood!

Perhaps what surprised me most however, was how close to the house it had come in order to feed. Later, I went down to inspect the hole it had been thrusting it's beak into. I suppose I had expected to find a piece of wood, but no it was just a very ordinary hole in the soil about two inches deep with no obvious target of interest.