Two nest hole snatchers

Some birds make nests from scratch, building them from twigs, branches, spider's webs, lichens or mud. Others need a hole to nest on, and they will use natural holes or those drilled by other birds. This post is about two such 'nest snatchers' I've watched recently. In the last few days, I've noticed starlings moving a lot of back and forth between an Ash and the grass lawns in my local park. Yesterday, they were actually using last year's Great Spotted Woodpecker's nest. Woodpeckers have a reputation for feeding on the chicks of hole nesting birds, but they also might be providing them with the nest hole in the first place.

A photo from last year (24th June), with a chick almost ready to fledge calling to its parent (on the right branch) 

Yesterday, a Starling getting in the hole

 The other nest snatching event happened just in front of my house. There's been an owl box in the Lime tree in front of the house for over 15 years. It was well used, the hooting and gurgling noises of the Tawny Owls from the nest very obvious in the night. A few years ago the bottom of the nest fell off, and the sky was visible from the ground. On Valentine's day the next year the owls called from the nest, probably inspecting it, but it was deemed useless and we stayed owl-less for a few years. This year, Stock Doves showed a lot of interest in the owl house (top shot taken 9th April). They stuffed the box with branches, and miraculously, the branches stayed, the box had been repaired!

The repaired nest, branches sticking out at the bottom.

 The booming call of the Stock Doves greeted me in the mornings as I left for work. Until one night we heard a Tawny Own hooting. The owl was actually sitting atop the nest, calling, then flew off low over the roofs. The owls have been calling regularly since, and I guess they have taken possession of the owl box and evicted the Stock Doves.
 

 Tawny Owl watching us from the nest box (20th April).

Great spotted woodpecker chiselling nest

I heard the 'chip!' call of the woodpecker while walking by the park today. A female flew to the top of a horse chestnut and then flew into the large trees by the side of the pond. When I relocated her she was on the trunk of a large ash, and, as woodpeckers do she climbed behind the trunk out of sight. I moved to a better location, with the sun on my back and there she was, maybe 8-10 m high on the trunk just under the main branches, expanding a hole in what appeared to be healthy wood, pulling woodchips away.
 Woodpeckers will dig a new nest every year, which provides suitable nesting holes for other hole birds. Both male and female work together in this hard task, that might take them three or four weeks to complete.
She worked away while I took photos, and filmed her, and she was still working when I left.

The female on the high branches of a horse chestnut, with buds about to burst

most of the shots I took of chiselling are blurry, but this one captured the moment of impact, and the closed eyes of the woodpecker at this point.

A short clip follows.