To feed or not to feed?

 There is an abundance of natural food around at this time of year.  There seems to have been a bumper acorn crop and I watched a crow making the most of them on my morning walk and everywhere we went, squirrels were busy hiding their cache.  Something (probably a badger) had been busy digging on the golf course, woodpeckers and nuthatches were noisily pecking at trees; and blackbirds were foraging in the heavily-laden holly.

So I was surprised to arrive home and find that my husband had put up peanuts for the birds.  We don't feed peanuts through the summer due to the potential for chicks choking and because there is so much natural food. Within moments, the nuthatch arrived but it was soon chased off by the male woodpecker.  We do have two peanut feeders but blue tits and great tits were occupying the other one.

This male great spotted woodpecker stayed for a long time (You can tell it is a male by the red patch on the back of his head.)  The female was more timid and stayed on the far side of the feeder.  The big question is whether it is better for the woodpecker to eat nuts or forage for natural food at this time of year?  

It is interesting (I think) that woodpeckers have a membrane which closes much like our eyelid, protecting their eyes from flying chips and debris as they peck. Not something I noticed when I was watching it but you can see it in this photo.