OPPORTUNIST COLLARED DOVE

For quite a while now, a year or two, I've had a birdfeeder suspended from my washing line at the top of the garden.  Birds like to feed close to trees as it is a place for them to escape should they come under attack from predators, like Ragdoll cats.  While I love to think that I am helping to sustain wildlife like the goldfinches, blue tits, greenfinches, and all the other lovely birds that visit my garden, I have hated the way the birds scatter seeds everywhere which then germinate and cause problems in my pots, tubs, and even borders.  Mostly it is ryegrass and sunflower seed that I end up having to pull up.  As I have vertigo, I have to avoid bending as much as possible in my garden.   Anyway, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I bought a tray that screws underneath the birdfeeder and catches any seed or chaff that the birds might drop.  One smart, opportunist collared dove, has decided that the tray is a perch from which it can help itself to the smaller birds' seed.  You can just see the bird in the centre, to the right of the tomato growhouse.