Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and the first Chiffchaff of the year

Its been some time since I've written a blog post due to the mountain of work that I had to assail in order to to reach the pinnacle of that greatest peak in the University mountain range; Dissertation. I thought about writing a post while making camp about two thirds of the way up but when I sat down to write my post I realised I had nothing to write about. All I had seen for the most of February was the inside of a University computer room. 

But alas! The summit was reached last week and I've since had a safe descent. This meant I was able to get out last weekend where I went birding with my Grandad to see Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at the same place we went last year. It took a while to locate but we eventually found it, doing what I think was nest excavation.

We also saw a pair of Pink Footed Geese in the fields, as well as a nice pair of Mandarin and seeing and hearing my first Chiffchaff of the year. As there was last year, there was also a Canada/Greylag Goose with a white neck and head and orange beak. It was joined by another similar looking bird and I can only assume that they are hybrids between a wild bird and domesticated ones.

The hybrid geese. Either Canada or Greylag crossed with domestic geese.

The following day I helped run a bird ringing demonstration in the glorious sunshine of Creswell Crags. We didn't catch much, I think our tally finished on around 10, but everybody who came to watch seemed to really enjoy themselves and were most friendly. We caught our first Chiffchaff of the year though which was nice. 

First Chiffchaff ringed of the year

 However the main enjoyment for me came from the chocolate orange cake served in the gift shop which was absolutely superb!