For the last four days, I've had the huge privilege of seeing a male Great Spotted Woodpecker preparing a nest hole in the Bird Cherry tree outside my office window.
I've never managed to get a decent photograph of a Spotty as they always seem incredibly wary of being watched, but that's all changed and I now I have a ringside seat to a real wildlife spectacle. I took this short video through the office window pane. After three days of excavation, the woodpecker has created a large enough hole to turn around in. I presume it's now excavating downward to make the egg chamber. The female seems to visit a couple of times a day to inspect the site. I so hope she chooses to lay her eggs in there, not just for me and the amazing insight I'll get, but for the male woodpecker who's worked tirelessly for four days with more still to do.