Not all bad news

First the bad news.  The woodpecker was ousted from the hole he had built opposite my front door.  I saw him in several battles with a pair of starlings and the next thing there was a starling in the hole overnight.  Here is the male singing outside the hole.

And here is the triumphant pair just opposite their new-won hole.

The male has a blue base to his beak.

The female's is pink.

The starlings in the lower hole in the next door tree are well settled in.  This is the male

and the female.

Then the good news.  The woodpecker moved to the next tree about 5m away and is busy excavating another hole. This one is on the shady side so photography is less easy.

I'm slightly puzzled that he is working so close to another old hole (it had starlings in last year).  I wonder if they will link up inside?

Here he is chucking out beakfuls of wood chips.

In between all this hard work he regularly flies down to the woodpecker feeder outside the kitchen window.  His mate is about in the garden all the time as well.

My only hope is that he'll be able to hang onto this new hole and defend it from starlings.