Raging bulls

Val vows to think more kindly of the bud-eating bullfinch

- Val Bourne

THERE'S a definite pecking order at our bird-feeding station. King of all is the great spotted woodpecker, a large black-and-white bird with a very long and powerful bill, strong enough to bore into tree trunks. The males have a red nape that's missing from the females.

We have seen three different individuals attacking the peanuts recently. Sightings have been lower than usual, probably because it's been a mild winter here. However, I'm worried because lots of Gloucestershire's ash trees have been culled for health and safety reasons, including the one near us. It was the tree where we saw our woodpeckers most often.

When a great spotted woodpecker arrives at the peanuts, everything moves out of the way - including the similarsized jays. We still have a pair raiding the peanuts and one jay can take four or five peanuts very quickly. The blackbirds sound their warning call and it always seems to say get out of it, get out of it', although blackbirds have local dialects. The blackbirds I encountered in Oxfordshire do not sound like those in Gloucestershire, honest!