Metal Head Pecker

On my morning trip down the canal this morning I heard a weird metallic rattle coming from near Crowther Bridge. Sure enough on getting the bins on the large pylon in the compound on Northbank Loop I spotted a male Greater Spotted Woodpecker hammering away on the tops struts. He kept this up quite while as I heard it on the way down past the pylon and as I walked further down to meet Les I could still hear him drumming away on the pylon. I mentioned this to Les when we met up and he said he had seen the same thing on a pylon lower down the canal last year.

All the usual suspects around this morning, looks like a new influx of Sand Martin have arrived on the Ski lake as Les as I spotted a fair number as we walked back up the running track towards Tag Loop.