The area where my little cottage is located is rather off the beaten track. The road outside is unsurfaced, so we don’t get much traffic, and at the end of the road there is an open space that is grassed and surrounded by trees. It had some nice snowdrops earlier in the year, which made it seem like actual woodland. I think of it as the village green.
Today as I was heading into town I heard a noise that sounded like an electric hammer being fired in short bursts. There was no sign of men working, and the noise came from up in the trees. I looked up, and sure enough there was a black and white bird hammering away at the tree. It is the first time I have ever seen a woodpecker in the wild, let alone one actually at work. I think I like it here.
At a guess, from the way you describe the sound, it was drumming you heard – the way a woodpecker delineates his territory and perhaps attracts a mate. Probably either a Greater or a Lesser Spotted.
We have a very busy woodpecker in the forest just across from where I live. The first time I heard him, I was stunned, but now I look forward the the renewal of his knocking. It’s another harbinger of spring.