Hi. This morning (16 Sept 2019) very briefly a very unusual bird landed in our garden at Bishops Cleeve, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK. Sadly not for long enough to get a photo. At first I thought it was a woodpecker (I'm not greatly knowledeable about birds), but checking our "Birds of Britain and Europe" book, it did n't match any colouring wise. It had a white/cream back with black speckles or maybe black patches/bars. White/cream wing tops with black speckles I think. Black patches elsewhere. Red - possibly as a red head cap, but time was against my observation and memory. It landed to a horizontal mode (like most birds), not a vertical stance. (We've had a kestrel twice - which was more vertical.) Size bigger than a blackbird but less than a pigeon, and fairly sleak.
The closest I've seen so far in a web search is the USA "Northern Flicker".
Has anyone else seen similar in the SW UK recently? Any ideas what it may have been?
Many thanks. IanBJ
Hi Ian
It wasn't a juvenile Green Woodpecker I suppose? They can look very mottled until they get their adult plumage.