--- title: Weasel Riding Woodpecker: See the Photo description: A hotographer in the U.K. captured the snap of a lifetime on Monday when he saw a weasel clinging onto a woodpecker's back mid-flight canonical: https://time.com/3729535/woodpecker-weasel-photograph/ author: Charlie Campbell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-03T03:18:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:17:19.112Z og:title: Baby Weasel Hitches Ride on Flying Woodpecker og:description: The battle for survival just got airborne og:url: https://time.com/3729535/woodpecker-weasel-photograph/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Baby Weasel Hitches Ride on Flying Woodpecker twitter:description: The battle for survival just got airborne twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # So This Baby Weasel Decided to Hitch a Ride on a Flying Woodpecker's Back  by [Charlie Campbell](https://time.com/author/charlie-campbell/)  ## Charlie Campbell Editor at Large Mar 3, 2015 3:18 AM UTC  by [Charlie Campbell](https://time.com/author/charlie-campbell/)  ## Charlie Campbell Editor at Large Mar 3, 2015 3:18 AM UTC > [](https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/572537206574854144) An amateur photographer in the U.K. [captured](http://www.itv.com/news/2015-03-02/incredible-image-shows-weasel-flying-on-woodpeckers-back/) the snap of his lifetime on Monday when he witnessed a weasel clinging onto a woodpecker’s back mid-flight. Martin Le-May from Essex near London said he was first alerted to the bird’s “distressed squawking” at Hornchurch Country Park after the tiny carnivore apparently pounced on it in search of a meal. “The bird flew across us and slightly in our direction,” he told ITV News. “Suddenly it was obvious it had a small mammal on its back and this was a struggle for life.” The woodpecker landed in front of Le-May and his wife, at which point the weasel seemed to get distracted and momentarily let go of its quarry. “Quickly the bird gathered its self respect and flew up into the trees and away from our sight,” adds Le-May. “The woodpecker left with its life, the weasel just disappeared into the long grass, hungry.” _Read next:_ [_Quiz: Is Your Dog Crazy?_](http://time.com/3724169/is-my-dog-crazy-quiz/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3729535/woodpecker-weasel-photograph/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3729535/woodpecker-weasel-photograph/"},"headline":"So This Baby Weasel Decided to Hitch a Ride on a Flying Woodpecker's Back","datePublished":"2015-03-03T03:18:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:17:19.112Z","description":"The battle for survival just got airborne","url":"https://time.com/3729535/woodpecker-weasel-photograph/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","Wildlife","U.K.","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlie Campbell","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/charlie-campbell/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3729535/woodpecker-weasel-photograph/","name":"So This Baby Weasel Decided to Hitch a Ride on a Flying Woodpecker's Back"}}]}] ```