"How tickled I am, by George."©

"Have you ever been tickled by George Mrs.?"©
With apologies to Doddy for nicking his line.

It has taken lots and lots and lots>>>>>>> of patience to get this far. Cushat used to take off like a bat out of hell at the sound of the door.
Then it got hardened to the fact that the sound wasn't a danger.
For a long time after that, it fled at the sight of me.
(SHUT UP YOU!!)
Slowly I got it used to me leaning on the shed and watching it round the corner.
The other day I was able to s l o w l y walk the length of the bungalow gathering some herb and back inside the house with it still on the grass, having waddled to the farthest end of the lawn.
Today I spotted it on next door's fence and the red checker wandering across the lawn towards me, scrounging. ( So? What's fresh?) I gave my "pigeon- whistle" a kind of Pssss-wsst through the teeth while I placed a handful of seed spread twixt the two dishes, retreated to my usual place on the wall and lo and behold ... The result.