Woodpecker returns, mother puts her own life at risk and loses some feathers

This morning the Great Spotted Woodpecker returned again and this time what happened outside the birdbox (as seen with binoculars, unfortunately not on video) was truly spectacular (and frightening).

The mother risked her own life by flying into the birdbox literally right under the nose of the woodpecker. I could clearly see that after that the woodpecker had some down/ feathers in his beak!

What happened inside the birdbox was captured on video:

Woodpecker returns, 14 May 2014 8:25am

0:00 Chicks are on the nest, one of them is preening.

0:06 Woodpecker lands at the entrance of the birdbox. At first, one baby thinks it is mum or dad and he rises and opens his beak begging for food.

0:08 Chick realises the danger and lies flat on the nest

0:55 Mother risks her own life by flying into the birdbox right under the nose of the woodpecker. With my binoculars I could clearly see some down/ feathers in the beak of the woodpecker. In the video you can see a damaged feather on the outside of the mother's left wing. This was almost certainly caused by the woodpecker (I checked video images from just 2 minutes earlier - no damage).

1:16 Father also enters the birdbox flying close past the woodpecker. This can only be heard, he is outside the view of the camera.

1:47 Father leaves the birdbox again (not visible, can only be heard).

2:00 Woodpecker has gone, but mother stays alert for a long time. Chicks keep lying flat on the nest.

3:03 Father brings food. The situation normalises.