What's this white stuff?

Snowed in today, so working from home. The wonders of modern technology, the teleconferences go on and there is access to all the network drives.

A little time at lunchtime to use the front room as a hide, with the window open and the house rapidly cooling off. I was hoping for waxwings in the Whitebeam in the front garden, there had been a small flock in the neighbour's garden yesterday just before dusk. But they didn't show today, so the collared dove is today's blip.

Most people will know what a success story collared doves have been in Europe, arriving in Britain for the first time in the 1960's. I know someone who was an early twitcher and drove hundreds of miles to see the first breeding pair.

Two years ago when we were in a town called Bishop, east of the Sierra Nevada in California, we were wandering around the grounds of the local history museum and we heard the unmistakable trisyllabic Coo Coo Coook. According to my Bird Guide to the Western USA (a recent edition), the nearest collared doves were in Florida. So the success story continues and they are conquering North America too.

Last year the collared doves in our garden bred four times between February and October, they had no success the first two attempts, then got the hang of it and raised two broods successfully. Then just after New Year, the female disappeared, maybe the victim of a sparrowhawk. The male cooed for months before he found a new mate, but after sitting on the old nest for a few days in the bay tree, she decided she wanted superior accommodation somewhere else (may have been something to do with the bright light from the moth trap).

They are still active in the garden though. This one is sat in the young Gingko, framed by the snow-clad Amelanchier behind. I think this is the female.