, and the pair of blackbirds who regularly go off like an old-fashioned telephone and an ambulance siren respectively, this morning there was a tremendous racket from the back garden and Woody, our resident European green woodpecker, was perched on the fence cackling madly at the world. Off he flew; five minutes later he was back and letting rip again, head back and beak thrust high into the air. At one point, he nearly fell off the fence backwards! This went on for about half an hour ..... 
Unsure if he was staking his territory
or it was a mating ploy 
.......
We often have a flock of them around here, "doing" the front lawns, but they must be nesting elsewhere.
He's a big, chunky bird, and the stand-out red and black head markings make him look slightly ferocious. In human terms, he's the bouncer outside your local nightclub ... 
