Yaffle don't snaffle my bees!

Mice are not the only threat to bee hives in the winter. Green woodpeckers will often peck right through the wall of  hive to get at  the bee brood, which results in the death of the entire colony. For that reason many beekeepers protect their hives with wire netting during winter. As you can see in my last post, I'm not protecting my hives from woodpeckers.
So am I reckless? Well not really because it appears that woodpecker attacks on bee hives is a learned behaviour which is passed from one generation to the next. Fortunately, around here hive vandalism hasn't entered yaffle culture. Instead our woodpeckers seem quite happy looking for crane fly larvae and ants on the lawn as you can see from this photograph I took a couple of days ago.

However, recent frosts are making the ground hard, so I'll need check the hives regularly just in case this fellow has been taking lessons!