Nature Can Be Cruel

The last couple of weeks I have been watching a pair of robins fly in and out or the leylandi  (do you spell it like that) hedge in our back garden.  It looked like they had nested there but I didn’t dare go and look.  This was sadly confirmed at the weekend when I found three dead chicks on the hammock which was next to the hedge.  The chicks only looked to be maybe a week old at most and had not been eaten at all.  So it didn’t look as if a predator had got to them.  I believe robins can sometimes get rid of chicks if they think the nest is not safe.  Or maybe it was a rival male?  What’s confusing me is that the chicks were actually  about a foot or two away from the hedge and not below the nest.  Looked like they’d been thrown out!!  If anybody can throw any light on this I’d like to hear.
 
Below are a couple of photos of the tadpoles in my pond. They’re not brilliant photos as I haven’t got a macro lens.  There are literally thousands of them – however, many are being eaten by the Blackbirds.  Maybe that’s why frogs produce so many.
 
 

Great Spotted Woodpecker On My Nuts!!!!!!

Just could not resist that title for my post!! This Greater Spotted Woodpecker was enticed onto my nut feeders earlier in the week.  I was really pleased as I had been watching it through my binoculars on the trees at the back of my garden.  However, I soon realised that this one was not the same one I had been watching.  It lacked the red spot on the nape of its neck and the red underneath its tail feathers was not quite as noticeable.    On looking through my guide book I found out that this is a female!  Brilliant!  That means there are a pair in this vicinity.  Probably nesting somewhere close—–wish I knew where.
Check out the differences.

Female Great Spotted Woodpecker

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker

Greater Spotted Woodpecker

This woodpecker has become a regular drumming on the tree at the back of our garden.  I took this with my canon 7d and 100-400mm zoomed in all the way.  Still not the crisp clear pictures I’d like but some nice compositions?

Click on thumbprints to see larger photo.  Sorry they are all over the place – can’t get the hang of placing them neatly into the blog!!!