Crook, County Durham: They’re determined breeders, but I can’t help but feel anxious watching them nest precariously in the leylandii cypress

A pair of collared doves in close formation glide in an elegant arc over the garden hedge and, with an angelic raising of wings, stall their flight and perform a feather-light landing. We used to see a lot of them, fewer in recent years. There’s a suggestion that the species has suffered from the same trichomonosis parasite that has afflicted greenfinches. Competition from wood pigeons – increasingly frequent garden visitors – might have been a factor too.

And here come the wood pigeons, arriving with a bouncy crash-landing, waddling up the garden path, all bluster and swagger. They’re already nesting in our ivy-clad silver birch. Both species are beneficiaries of a trickle-down economy, bestowed by finches scattering seeds from the bird feeders I’ve just refilled.