There’s a phase in every child’s life when they’re quite the pest, to put things a bit bluntly; with Homo sapiens I believe it tends to happen around the age of 1-3, when every second word uttered tends to be the child’s variety of mummy, often in an increasingly urgent tone of voice… With Picus viridis, or the green woodpecker, this phase lasts longer in woodpecker terms and can probably drive most any doting mother up the wall.

The youngster in this series was nothing if not insistent, and mommy was kind enough to indulge. Enjoy these images of a hungry young woodpecker getting its feed of ant eggs straight from mother’s palate.