Green wood pecker Dad and Son

Two green wood peckers were on my lawn on hot July day. Dad was showing his son (the son has a spotted grey coat and its head is not as red) how to pick ants off the ground. You will notice in the clip below that the bird has to scratch ants off its face a couple of times. You can also see them panting. This is to keep them cool.
Eventually, they came near the house, right next to the window, in search of some well needed shade.

Tiny wild rabbit

This picture was taken in my back garden. You don't usually see rabbits out and about at such a young age. My guess is that it was the mother's first litter as females are very protective of their very young and do not let them out of the den so early. 

Rightly so because soon after I took the picture, the rabbit's sibling was attacked and killed by a magpie.

Blue tit in a cage

I have a couple of nice pictures of a juvenile blue tit I would like to share with you.  It was standing inside a squirrel-proof peanut feeder. Which of the three is your favourite?

Young red kites quarrelling and flying around

This was taken in June. A view from my back garden. You don't usually see so many red kites together so I am assuming there are siblings practising their flight. They quarrel like siblings too. ;-)

Baby chaffinch feeding and being fed

Some chaffinches are picking up seeds fallen on the ground from the bird feeder. A great place for the parents to bring their newly fledged offspring.

The video below shows some baby chaffinches, still unsteady on their feet, picking up seeds while waiting for their parents to feed them.

A feeding lesson

In May this year, I noticed a female Great Spotted woodpecker teaching her young ones (one male and one female) how to fetch food for themselves. While still feeding them directly, she would also gather pieces of peanut from the bird feeder and place them in a small crack between two branches in our apple tree for them to get.
Have a look at the clip below. You will also notice that she gently pecks the young birds on the head to tell them to fetch the food themselves.
You can also see one of the babies trying to eat from the bird feeder but not very successfully.

Some clips were filmed from indoors and some outdoors. The outdoor clips have slightly better image quality and you can also hear the babies being fed. They sound like a squeaky toy. The funny thing is that the adults sound just the same themselves.