This morning a hawkish pirate came plundering. He left me a neat garland of black feathers and one less song in the garden. Perhaps he has hungry baby pirates to feed.

I didn’t get a photo, but he had silver eyebrows and stripy pantaloons, and he looked like this:

So, I thought he was a goshawk, but no. Apparently female sparrowhawks also sport white eyebrows and stripy pantaloons, and they are much bigger than their males. So now I know my pirate was actually a girl. A mighty female buccaneer, but not quite as mighty as a goshawk.  

Later, I found a pair of 7-spot ladybirds among the violet leaves. They made me smile. I hope they have a clutch of hungry babies!