This far south, Eurasian collared doves, Streptopelia decaocto, breed almost all year round. In the reserve, even this early in the year, their ever-present monotonous calls (…my toe hurts…my toe hurts…) become just background noise.

Recording by Olivier Swift (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 DEED) xeno-canto.org

But there was a time when collared doves were a real rarity in the UK. Birdwatchers were very excited when these doves nested here, in Norfolk, for the very first time in 1956: the nest was heavily guarded and protected from disturbance. Within 20 years, though, collared doves had colonised every county in the British Isles, and had even reached the Shetland Islands and the Outer Hebrides.

Now it is the seventh most frequently seen species in British gardens and the population is believed to have has reached almost a quarter of a million breeding pairs.