UPDATE; 2017 This experience was so unusual it inspired another painting this year. See it below. Well it has been a very interesting day for me today. My photograph of the sparrowhawk and woodpecker sharing a wooden post has been featured in the Daily Mail, the Telegraph and on BBC Radio 2 today!
There was an interesting story behind this photo. I was photographing birds from my hide in the garden when I saw a sparrowhawk capture this woodpecker. It was literally plucking the feathers from his back as I watched, and before I could stop myself I had jumped up and scared the sparrowhawk away. The woodpecker limped across to this nearby post to catch its breath - it was clearly in great shock. With that the sparrowhawk swooped back to see what had happened to its prey, and landed on the same post to survey the scene. What it didn't notice was that the woodpecker was directly beneath it on the post!
What a sighting, I'll certainly never get a shot like this again. A customer asked me to paint it for them, and my painting is below.
UPDATE; 2017 This experience was so unusual it inspired another painting this year. See it below.
Sparrowhawk in pursuit of Great Spotted Woodpecker£3,950
Original Acrylic Painting by Robert E Fuller
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