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Compared to the green woodpecker with similarly coloured plumage, our star of the day is slightly smaller and more slender. Only the male bird has a small red patch on its forehead. The grey head has a dark streak from the beak to the eye, and "whiskers” going from the beak to the cheeks. The plumage on the underparts is grey too, the back and wings are green. Subadult birds have paler colours.

 

It is well enough to describe these details but we have to do with a very shy bird – just try to see it all at once. Often grey woodpeckers play hide-and-seek with the observer – you notice the bird busy with something, but at the same time it has seen you, and it moves to hide behind the tree trunk and goes on with its business there. You try to move, quietly, into a new position - all repeats itself. A difficult subject for photographers.