"The Weasel and the Woodpecker" could well be the name of the next English classic fantasy tale to follow the likes of Harry Potter and Brer Rabbit.
Amateur photographer Martin Le-May's once-in-a-million snap featuring a classic fight between the hungry and the hunted has the internet in a frenzy.
His shot of a hungry weasel riding on the back of a woodpecker at Hornchurch Country Park in east London has taken flight on the internet since it was posted on Tuesday.
#Weasel hitches a ride on a
#woodpecker:
http://t.co/0AAx0tu6xm
#WeaselPecker — BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews)
March 3, 2015
Mr Le-May was in the park with his wife, Ann, when he spotted a green woodpecker making a squawking noise, he told the Daily Mail.
As the woodpecker flew towards him, he noticed a "stoat or weasel" on its back, apparently trying to make a meal of the bird.
"Heard bird struggling saw on ground. Then flew up with Weasel on board," he wrote on Twitter.
He took several shots, some blurred, of the unusual event.
"The woodpecker just managed to escape and the weasel disappeared into the long grass, hungry," Mr Le-May said on Twitter.
Mr Le-May posted the photo on Twitter although his original posting no longer carries the photo.
Took this picture earlier today. Heard woodpecker in distress, then flew up with Weasel on back — Martin Le-May (@KingYamel)
March 2, 2015
The gallant woodpecker fending off a hungry weasel has not only caused a stir among nature enthusiasts but has inspired a series of memes.
Russian President Vladimir Putin took off as a woodpecker rider.
If you've heard about the
#WeaselPecker, you'll be pleased to see that someone has added Putin. (h/t to
@sklueche)
pic.twitter.com/CJ5O4tCG6h — The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes)
March 3, 2015
Shortly after, he was chased by Star Wars droids.
#WeaselPecker: the best tweets and memes as weasel rides on woodpecker's back through London
http://t.co/tWjx377d0e
pic.twitter.com/kAR9X5LkaY — The Telegraph (@Telegraph)
March 3, 2015
North Korea's Kim Jong-un leads his nation on his chosen steed.
#WeaselPecker of the North
@ThePoke
pic.twitter.com/pnsvv6uBMS — Ben Lloyd (@Techwriteuk)
March 3, 2015
John Travolta lands another kiss, this time on the weasel.
That photo of a weasel riding a woodpecker has spawned the
#WeaselPecker meme.
http://t.co/7uvf9zeOYQ
pic.twitter.com/WK8dFYC1u2 — someecards (@someecards)
March 3, 2015
Even other classics got a cameo in the bird-and-mammal show.
To Mordor! One
#WeaselPecker To Bind Them All!
pic.twitter.com/zu7l9nKNAo (via
@PollyClonal) — The Poke (@ThePoke)
March 3, 2015
But the question that begged to be answered was whether the picture was real or Photoshopped.
Mr Le-May took to Twitter to defend his photo.
@MavaMoayyed I have some blurry photos of the rest of the event, the bird on the ground and in the air. My wife also witnessed this. — Martin Le-May (@KingYamel)
March 2, 2015
The Herald checked out some of the facts.
The park in which Mr Le-May shot the photo is real - Hornchurch Country Park is a pristine, peaceful, green, 105-hectare space in the London Borough of Havering, east of London.
According to the British Wildlife Centre, weasels are common all over Britain and the woodpecker resides in most of Wales and England.
The advent of the internet has given photo phenomena plenty of air time.
Last year, a photo of a frog riding on a crocodile nearly broke the internet.
Just before Mr Le-May's woodpecker-and-weasel moment, a rhino saved a baby zebra from a mud pit.