The advantage of living in the countryside
Anyone who has been following me for a while knows that we do not live in a city, not even in a village. Well, officially our home address is of course registered in a village, but the reality is that we are miles away from everywhere. We really live in the polder and there are disadvantages, but also advantages. And one of the advantages is that we at least still have some nature around us here, and we can also spot animals that you normally don't see very often. Think of deer that live a very short distance from us in the woods, provided they are not all blown over by the hunters who think they have free reign here and have made the forest their personal paradise. I haven't been able to spot them yet, but there also seem to be badgers living in the woods, I still hope to encounter them one day. But we'll see if it works. Closer to home, in our garden we see a lot of birds. And that can vary from the common house sparrow to a sparrowhawk.
Annual visit
But a bird that I find very pleasant to have around is the Great Spotted Woodpecker. And this bird can also be seen in our garden every year around winter. You hear him from afar, and often enough he shows up. If you're having trouble telling Spotted Woodpeckers apart, there are a few subtle differences. And one of those differences is a "red tail spot". Only the male of the Great Spotted Woodpecker has that. Even without that red tail spot it would already be a handsome appearance, of course, but that spot certainly makes it even more special.
Why our garden?
A Great Spotted Woodpecker does not just choose any garden. They like a combination of forest and open landscape, and dead wood in particular is what attracts them to create their habitat. And well, I'll remain honest. We live in a rural area here, but we can find quite a bit of dead wood in our garden. This is the result of years of neglect of the garden, and since our budget is not that large, we can only make small changes at a time. We are doing our best to improve the garden as much as possible with the resources we have and we have already made quite a bit of progress. But we also deliberately leave dead wood in the garden, especially since we know that this is one of the conditions for the Great Spotted Woodpecker to visit. So we have tall old trees, the open landscape is there and the dead wood is there. Et voila, the perfect environment that is honored every year with the company of the Great Spotted Woodpecker. You can say that we have a perfect combination for him at the moment.
Nikon P1000
Earlier years I had also tried to take nice photos of the Woodpecker with my Nikon D750. But due to the lack of a millimeter telephoto lens, I was not very happy with it. As soon as I saw the Woodpecker I tried it, but then came to the conclusion that I should be able to get closer. The only way to do that was to walk outside, and you get the idea, then the bird would have flown again. This year things were a bit different with the Nikon P1000. And yes, I know, the quality of an SLR will certainly often be considered better (also by me, as a spoiled SLR user). But what is better, a photo that you are not satisfied with, no photo, or a photo with a slightly lower quality but otherwise how you would like to see the photo? With the P1000's incredible zoom capability, I finally had the chance to get closer to the Great Spotted Woodpecker. And because I could do that safely from behind the window, the Woodpecker was okay with it, it's not that he didn't see me. He saw me, and looked right at me!
Life is about the small simple moments
It's not just about a photo, after about 4 years of trying in vain it felt like a personal victory, it's capturing a special moment, creating a beautiful memory. And I would like to share that with you.
I must say that nowadays I increasingly use the Nikon P1000 to take a quick photo. So who knows what moments and opportunities will come in front of my camera this year? I don't know... But what I do know is that in this uncertain world full of chaos and haste, it's the small simple moments that really count. Live your life and enjoy today! Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Cherish the moments! I try to grab them for myself and capture them.