CHASING A LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER AGAIN.

After finishing a few chores on Friday morning I went to Brandon Marsh again to try and get some better shots of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker than I managed to get on Wednesday.Went straight to Horsetail glade and was surprised to find no one there.Not a good sign.

To cut a long story short I made several visits to the glade during the day but never saw or heard the Woody and no one else had by the time I left just before 3.00 PM.To make up for not seeing it I've posted one I saw earlier.Much earlier in fact March 2011 at Whitacre Heath.

Giving up on the Woody I went for a walk round avoiding the hides I stuck to the paths to see what was showing.It was hard work because despite the fine warm weather there was not too much around.One of the birds at Brandon that has been showing very well lately has been Treecreepers and I got some more shots including some where they were gathering nest material.

I hadn't intended going for more Blackcap shots unless a female was showing but one bird we met was singing out for ages as it flitted around a Hawthorn tree and I couldn't resist trying for more.Very pleased with the flight shot.

Quite a few butterflies were about and I managed a flight shot of a female Orange-tip.

Just after lunch I was lucky enough to get some shots of a little known and very rare sub species of a common bird.Everyone is familiar with Jays which fly off to the next county when you get within 50m of them but very few people know about the Sociable Jay.These love to sunbathe are very happy for people to approach them and love to have their picture taken.One of them was found enjoying the sun along the path to Horsetail glade and it was very happy to allow several photographers to take it's picture.