My book says that the less flashy ones are young ones, and there's no difference in colour between male and female. There are lots of birds around at the moment - I've seen Long-Tailed Tits and flycatchers - and I hear lots that I can't identify. There was one call I'd been puzzling over for ages, and it turned out to be squirrels. Now there's a Hummingbird Hawk Moth buzzing round my ears and inspecting the vodka bottles...