Land of Hope and Glory

Sunday 1st March 2008

Since the weather has been milder my lover doves have stepped up their interest in each other and the dovecote. I now have every reason to believe that they might have a nest in it! I can't tell you how happy I am to have doves living in the dovecote again. It means a lot to me as I bought the dovecote and my first doves, Pax and Persephone & John and Irene with the money my mother (and late father) gave me for my wedding in April 2006. John and Irene were named after them, and John was the last surviving dove out of the four and either left, or died, around March 2008. Since then the dovecote has been empty, except for the occasional dove having a peek inside.

I didn't want to name the lover doves at first, but now one, presumably the female, has spent the last few nights in the cote and her mate is in constant attendance, and in and out, during the day, so I truly do think that they have come to stay.

So please let me introduce you to my delightful new neighbours, Hope and Glory.

Hope is the female of course, probably the one on the right.

Already they seem to have real characters. Here they are in the yard outside our garden posing as keepers of the lamp. From the long view they look like little statues!

Here is Glory collecting sticks for the nest from the lawn a few days ago.

Is this stick ok? he thinks
Glory proudly carries a suitable stick. It was very hard to get photos as he was so quick. As soon as he'd picked up a good stick......

He crouched down and flew up immediately with it. This looks likes he's holding the pampas grass but if you look carefully you can see the little stick in his beak.

So the nest is made, Hope is staying every night..... and maybe there are eggs! Please hope for Hope! and Glory, and me that everything will go well this time. I haven't forgotten the two last lot of squabs - the Ugly Dovelings and the other pair of tiny babies that died - and still feel sad about it.

The end