In the Garden

It was only after we'd begun to notice a woodpecker fairly frequently in the garden that it occurred to us that there might be more than one. Looking at these pictures it's obvious. The one above is an adult and....

....this one, with a paler pink tummy, paler red crest and less pronounced black markings, is a juvenile.

There are other juveniles in the garden beginning to make their presence felt. This little robin seemed friendly enough, and seemed to have the garden to himself - we're only seeing the very occasional adult - until another juvenile appeared, at which point the two had what robins frequently have, a bit of a set-to. Since we can't tell them apart, we don't know whether it was the original juvenile or the incomer who won, but since the fight there's only been one visible.

This isn't a juvenile but I've included the picture because it's just so good to see a coal tit back in the garden again. They seem to go in phases: sometimes there are plenty of them, sometimes they all disappear.

Not everything is as welcome in the garden though, to be honest, it's so good to see a butterfly that we almost forgave this small white female for laying her eggs - they're just visible to her left - on one of our precious brussel sprouts, though I confess that, photo taken, I promptly shooed her away and destroyed the eggs.