Back in Black (and red)

Last year I watched a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers raising their chicks in my local wood. I've been going back over the last couple of weeks and spotted they were back and using the same nest hole. Both parents were flying in and out with food for the young. Looking at the type of food they were taking in, small insects and grubs, I'm guessing the young are still very small as all the morsels were tiny. Over time as the young grow the size of the food increases, last year I saw other birds plundered chicks being offered.

Whenever the female arrived with food she would stay in the nest until the male arrived and then leave to forage for more food. However the male would deposit the food and then leave so the chicks were alone until the next parent visited.