Not quite what I planned today

Not just the weather - which is simply atrocious! The beautiful Lesser Redpolls are back visiting the bird feeders in the garden - up to 11 were seen through a lot of yesterday. I set my camera up in the cold and wet this afternoon to try to get a photograph of one. My best chance was interrupted by this Collared Dove, which decided it liked Nyger seed as well. Once this dove and its mates cleared off the Goldfinches and Redpolls returned briefly only to be driven away by disturbance in the next garden. Then the light went and I was left with just a couple of decent shots of the dove. It's worth remembering what a success story there is with the Collared Dove. When I was a boy in the 1950s and 60s it was an extremely rare species in the UK. It started breeding well in this area around 1980. Now it is very common and there are usually 4 or 5 around our garden.