It's that woodpecker again... Mother is very brave!

The Great Spotted Woodpecker that discovered the nest a few days ago visited again this afternoon. But this time he made some serious efforts to actually get into the box. He spent several minutes trying to enlarge the opening of the box or find another way to get in. He started drilling just above the metal  around the opening to the point that some splinters came off! He also stuck his head quite far into the opening, but of course the hole is way too small for him.

While this is happening, the chicks are silent and laying low on the bottom of the nest. I think this is their instinctive reaction to danger.

When the mother bird saw this happening from the outside, she flew into the box while the woodpecker was hanging on the outside of the box just centimeters away from the opening. Very brave indeed! When inside the box the mother started threatening the woodpecker.

At 0:50s in the video you can even see for a fraction of a second the bill of the woodpecker (on the right) when he sticks his head through the entrance as far as possible. This must be a scary moment for the blue tits...

Woodpecker visits again, mother flies in and threatens the woodpecker. 12 May 2014 1:58pm

The woodpecker left and things are back to normal but I think he will return.

Update: just and hour later the woodpecker returned and started drilling briefly.