Green woodpecker and GoPro chainsaw video

I made the most of the good weather today and cut up a couple of loads of logs with the chainsaw and Truncator in the woods, making a GoPro video while I was at it:

But before I even got that far I had a pleasant surprise when I saw a Green Woodpecker in the wayleave!

They are very shy, unlike those that visit bird feeders in gardens, and usually fly away, but this one stayed where it was. So I grabbed my camera and got a photo, albeit through the car windscreen:

Then a second one turned up!

It's a shame I couldn't get out of the car to take a clearer photo, but I know that if I did they'd have flown away immediately. I'm just glad I finally got to take a photo of these beautiful but shy woodland birds!

Mike

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Coppicing in another wood

So, although we're done with coppicing in our own wood this winter, that doesn't mean I've stopped! Today I went to join my friend Matt coppicing in his wood:

Here's a quick video of him felling a 60-ft (18m) Birch tree with his chainsaw:

Mike

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Sunrise at Rye Harbour

Earlier this week I dropped Tracy's car off for it's MOT in Rye Harbour, and walked back home. As it was sunny and -6C, I thought I'd take the route along the edge of the nature reserve to get some photos of the sunrise. So here they are...

Mike

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Coppicing finished for this winter

The coppicing is now finished for this winter. Here's how it looked from one end back in October:

The same view now is:

It's a good feeling to have all that wood stacked up and seasoning:

Here's a few more views of the finished work:

What's a bit odd is that Bluebell shoots have been showing for a couple of weeks now:

Presumably this is due to the mild December, hopefully they won't be too badly affected now that the weather has turned more normal for winter. Looking back at past photos, it seems the shoots are about 4 weeks ahead of normal.

Still, I expect the birds have benefited from the mild weather, I saw this Nuthatch discovering food on a dead oak tree recently:

The tame pheasants are of course spoilt by easy access to seed falling from our bird feeder - here's the male, strutting around a few days ago:

Once the tame female realised there was food on offer, she sprinted over to join him:

Looking forward to Spring now! :-)

Mike

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