Great Escape by Robert E Fuller

Robert E Fuller, a wildlife artist from England, captured a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker narrowly escaping a Sparrowhawk.

Robert described the experience in the Telegraph:

I have a sort of hide in my kitchen and I attract a lot of birds.

On this occasion I was trying to photograph a kestrel when I heard a noise and turned to see the sparrowhawk that had caught the male woodpecker and was pecking at it.

I frightened the sparrowhawk off and the woodpecker escaped onto a post next to my garden hedge.

I wanted to see if the woodpecker was OK, but I thought that the hawk might still be nearby so I sat tight and watched to see what would happen.

Sure enough, ten minutes later the sparrowhawk was back and had actually landed on top of the very post where the woodpecker was.

I know that sparrowhawks hunt by movement so as long as the woodpecker remained absolutely still he would be safe.

The encounter went on for what seemed like ages with sparrowhawk looking for its prey, but it probably only lasted a minute or two.

In the end the sparrowhawk moved off and the woodpecker lived to see another day.

What a great photo!

Robert has a wildlife art gallery at the Fotherdale Farm near Thixendale, UK where this photo, a painting of it and many more pieces of his work will be on display as part of his Summer Exhibition and Wildlife Festival. The festival runs from June 26th through July 11th and sounds like a lot of fun! Some of the events that are planned include: Hawk Walks, Owl Safaris, In Search of the Nightjar walk, RSPB Puffin and Gannet boat trip, RSPB Blacktoft Sands Beared Tit walk and more.

You can learn about more the festival, his gallery, and even purchase artwork at the Robert E Fuller Wildlife Artist website. Although I couldn’t find a print of this photo or painting. (Hint! Hint!)

Robert also has a Facebook page, Twitter account as @RobertEFuller and a blog that he calls A Day In The Life Of A Wildlife Artist.