Great-spotted woodpecker and Sitka spruce

 Watched some interesting behaviour by a great spotted woodpecker recently. It arrived at a sallow carrying a Sitka spruce cone in its beak, then wedged it in a hole that it had already hacked with its beak, so it could use this as a vice to hold the cone while it pecked out the seeds. Sitka spruce is clearly a winter food source for this bird because there were scores of cones that it had discarded on the ground under its tree. The Sitka plantation nearby is carrying a very heavy cone crop this winter - enough seed to supply dozens of woodpeckers.