Summer has her 4th brood

18th September 2012

Since Pearl left the safety of the hutch, both day and night, I have seen her regularly. But today I was worried as no Pearl for the morning feed, Hubbie reported he didnt see her at lunchtime and she wasn't there when I got home - but thankfully reported for the evening feed, and of course got peanuts specially thrown to her little pink feet!

My blog reader is always asking after Fennie dove, so I remembered to get out my camera and prove that Fennie is totally recovered. Here he is on the roof...

 

and back view....

 

 

If you remember, he had an injured wing and spent several weeks staying close to the garden and spending the nights under the gutter on the cottage roof. Here he is in May...

 

 

Also photographed today..... Lesa...who is moulting slightly around his head

 

 

And Bandit - also a he, and currently courting a young lady dove....

 

 

 

 

And Cloud, also injured in the spring but now fine....getting tangled with the hose...

 

 

At tea time - 4pm - hubbie comes home if he can and we have afternoon tea and watch All Creatures Great and Small, currently showing on the Yesterday channel - very civilised! Today as he came in the gate, he said 'Are the doves ok?' - Yes, I said, Why? ..... He had just seen a fox come out of the garden! Broad daylight! The fox had emerged under the laurel bush in the far corner of the garden, from behind the dove hospital and obviously near Jose's table. I was a bit horrified because minutes before Jose had been on the ground, and I had also been out all day and left her and Happy to it - not locked up. We have started doing the urine thing again - where we save it up and pour it round the places where a fox might enter the garden, but if foxy is going to come in the daytime, I can't protect the birds totally, and won't have Jose and Faith locked in permanently - it's not fair to them. I don't know if the urine will work, but it is an old remedy that is recommended. I knew a fox had been around in the night, as I'd had to clear the disgusting evidence from the lawn, but as now Jose and Faith are both brought in at night, and there is no way a fox could reach Summer then I wasn't worried. I always shut Faith up when I go out - mainly to protect a poorly old bird from male dove advances, but I haven't been shutting Jose up like I always used to - because of Happy.

 

Wed. 19th - Happy came to the hutch and went in early, so I shut them in together as I was going out again. They may be shut in but at least they have company, and Happy still likes sitting in the egg-less nest, just cooing! He still brings the occasional stick to add to it! Silly boy, Jose is not interested!

 

I took a photo of another stunning new recruit - who will be called Black Joseph. He is very like Joseph who had paramyxo and is now recovered but much darker, especially on his back.

 

 



 



 To remind you, here is Joseph.....as he was in August....

 



 



Sunday 23rd  Sept 12 - Such dreadfully hard rain fall that I brought poor Faith in from a dripping wet  box in the garden to sit in the conservatory - where she had a nice doze.....

 

 



 

The draped thing in the background is Jose's crate - the old sheet is on to drape the back to give Jose some privacy at night!!!

 

I caught a  bold young dove in Jose's hutch the other day - and ringed her with blue/green rings, and named her Cheeky. She doesn't come every day, but when she does, she always heads straight for the hutch again. I have never seen her on the lawn so far.

 



 

A beautiful browny-mauve pigeon is in the garden. He reminded me of Chocolate Brownie so much that I wondered if it could possibly be him back again. But here's the new one....

 

 

and here's Chocolate Brownie, in April 2011

 

 

and you can see the CB has white feathered legs, which the new one, Chocolate Brownie2, has not!

 

 

There a very cute little bird around the garden at the moment. It's very elusive, the minute I get my camera it disappears! I don't even know what it is...... what do you think? Sorry, it's a very bad photo, taken after dark.

 

 

 

 

Still way way too many pigeons around. They are very bold and come to the kitchen door.....

 

 





 

and even come inside for peanuts on the mat! Ok, I know I am encouraging them!

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 25.9.12 - Today we had some sunshine and Faith was able to sit at the front of her box and enjoy it.

 

 

 

 

 

In the early evening, just before it got dusk, I noticed some egg shell on the patio. It definitely wasn't there earlier as I had swooshed the patio down with the contents of the bucket after I'd washed the kitchen floor. Does this mean Sky and Summer's first egg has hatched? I honestly can't remember when they are due! If I get a chance I will peep into the cote tomorrow.

 

Friday 28th Sept. - Well a few days have gone quickly past and I haven't seen Joseph for all of them - though Black Joseph is still visiting. I really miss my gorgeous Joseph of many colours, and his enquiring face looking up to see if the peanuts are coming. Poor Charlie, who got caught by the sparrowhawk in the spring, and was rescued by me, seems to have something wrong with him like a mild form of paramyxo. He finds it hard to pick up grain at the first stab, and by the time he's going for it for the second time 'some rascal or other has popped in and prigged it!'. Luckily he seems to live very locally, and stays around at the end of the day with a few others, when most of the pigeons have left, so I can feed him and he has the leisure to eat. Sometimes it takes him up to five pecks before he can pick it up, poor thing! The other pigeons with him are lucky as they get fed too - and one of my rules is - now that I have so many birds here - that pigeons alone, without white doves in their number - don't get fed at all - unless they are special or poorly! This is Charlie, below, easily recognised with his white wing feathers and purple ring.

 

 

And here he is just after he was rescued.... in shock.... and before ringing

 

 



Later he developed a problem with his neck and could only eat if he didnt bend down too far.... Here here is in February with his thickened or swollen neck.

 

 

So he is a survivor anyway, and hopefully will get over whatever ails him now.

 

Today I checked the calendar and realised that I had seen one egg laid in the nest in the cote on 9th Sept which is obviously 19 days ago and therefore it must've hatched by now. I took the steps and gently, quietly had a peek, and could see a fluffy yellow bundle under Summer. Wow! we have at least one baby!

 

 

 

 

This is Sky and Summer's fourth brood this year, and all since May too - first we had Elizabeth and Olympia, then Elizabeth2 and Philip, then Spring and Autumn, and now this one...or two. The first Elizabeth died, and so did poor little Pip from the second batch. I no longer see Olympia or Lizzie2 so I don't know what happened to them, but Spring and Autumn are stunning birds, and still visiting. I do so hope they survive til next year, and Pearl of course, Jose and Happy's baby. These three were all growing up in the best possible time of year, with good weather and plenty of food, and Spring &Autumn had experienced parents, so I am hopeful for all three, but so far, in all my dovie history, I haven't had one baby survive and be seen in the garden the next year. Some babies may have survived but flown away to somewhere else.

 

Due to the huge numbers of pigeons and me trying to cut back on the feed, I have been feeding Sky and Summer in the cote,  by gently reaching up and putting a small handful of grain and peanuts on the front doorstep, as it were, of the nestbox. Summer is actually quite tame and will sometimes eat from my hand if I sit on the grass. Both she and Sky accept the extra feeding in the cote graciously, though in the beginning I was scared that I might frighten them from the nest. It means that whoever is on the nest can eat without leaving it, or waiting for the other parent to come back and relieve them.

 

Hopefully the next blog will be all about the new baby/ies....to be contd.

Three, just THREE left!

7 Feb 2010

I have not written about the doves since the end of November. I wish I had as now the little time I had with the 'After Doves' is over.

Probably the farmer as been busy with his gun again. I can think of no other explanation for the fact that now I have just three white doves, and no coloured ones, visiting.

The little After flock, visiting me from November to January, numbered sometimes as many as fourteen white doves, but on a day to day basis was usually about eight white and some others I particularly recognised including the beautiful speckled Dalmation dove. I enjoyed and fed them all through the hard snowy weather. I cleared a large circular patch of grass, and swept it every day to keep the snow off. Doves are cautious creatures and don't like anything different; they didn't like landing on the snow or even the grassy patch I made, but of course they had to - to eat!

My usual lap top has died and is off at the menders so I haven't even got a pictures of that poor little flock to show you, and I can't work this laptop properly, so can't drop the pics into the text!

One visiting pigeon I called Lady Jane Grey, after my internet friend Jane Grey - see my side panel to see her YouTube series of photos of her lovely woodpigeon, Hope. Lady Jane Grey seemed to escape this second dove slaughter and is shown here with a surviving white, but now she is nowhere to be seen - perhaps flown off to find more pigeons to flock with? I hope so.

Peace also was seen after the others had vanished. This is my last photo of her - I hope she didn't go back to the farm, but I fear she did. It really is so upsetting and there is nothing I can do. I hate it when I can't do anything positive.

Now, no doves greet me in the mornings. My roof tops that were once lined with doves are empty, and if it wasn't for my cheeky, hungry robin I would feel bird-friendless. There were four white doves visiting, but one got poorly and spent more time on the ground. I soon saw he had some damage to his beak; it was permanently slightly open and crossed - see the photos above. For the first few days, he managed to eat if I gave him a deep pot of grain, by shovelling it in. He couldn't pick up individual grains from the ground. He lost strength and couldn't fly after a while, so I kept him in my hospital box at night and set him free for the day. When he couldn't eat at all, I couldn't bear it and took him to the vets to be put to sleep as I didn't want him to suffer by starving to death. I left him at the vets in the box to be seen by my lovely vet as soon as he had time, but they rang me to say he'd died before that could happen. Poor little thing. I didn't even name him.

So now they are just three white doves visiting my garden. I think they come from some way away as they don't arrive til 11.30 am at the earliest and mostly after noon. Two are a pair as I've seen them mating and how I wish they'd set up home in my dovecote like Hope and Glory did. That was only last year but seems much longer ago. A life time ago. I so loved having my babies, Victory and Purity... even getting up early to put them back in the nest when Hope was leaving them all night. It was a very special time.

I try to be around when the three arrive so I can feed them. I can't just leave food down as there are hordes of hungry woodpigeons and jackdaws, plus at least two pheasants and squirrels. During the hour of my RSPB Birdwatch I listed 17 woodpigeons together, and I have seen as many as 25 together at one time in my garden. I think the doves are well fed, they don't seem starving and probably only come for the peanuts I throw, which are a treat!

Now, am I mad but I'm thinking of starting again with a new set of doves? Before that can happen, I will have to repaint the cote - it's now nearly four years since I bought it and rather grubby with a tinge of green. My husband thinks maybe we should re-site it, so that is under consideration too. I need to find someone who can sell me some doves, and a homing net. Many dove sellers only want to sell to those who have bought their dovecote. I got mine from Kootensaw, but feel their doves are pretty expensive, considering they breed so easily and rapidly. A breeding pair can have 8-10 pairs of squabs a year, apparently. Not that mine ever did!

The garden truly seems empty and lifeless to me without the doves but I dread getting new ones just to be sparrowhawk fodder. Another internet friend, Yan, lost three of her beautiful doves to the hawk and ended up giving the last one away to someone who keeps his birds in an aviary rather than see it swooped on and carried off.

So, what do you think? Start again? or not..... I think you know what I will do!

The End

Pigeons in War

Remembrance Sunday 2008.

The National Pigeon Service was formed at the outbreak of World War Two when 7000 of Britain's pigeon fanciers gave their pigeons to the war effort to act as message carriers.

Pigeons carried their messages either in special message containers on their legs or small pouches looped over their backs. Pigeons were dropped by parachute in containers to Resistance workers in France, Belgium and Holland. This was dangerous as if caught with a British pigeon it meant facing German firing squad. The photo of the poster above was taken at the German Occupation Museum in Guernsey.

One famous pigeon was called White Vision. She/he received a Dickin Medal (popularly referred to as the 'Animal VC' and exclusive to animals and birds - see www.pdsa.org.uk/page309.html for more stories) for saving the lives of eleven airmen in 1943. White Vision was released from a flying boat ditched off Scotland and flew sixty miles in strong winds and exceptionally difficult conditions to bring a rescue party.

More details can be found on Pigeons in War at http://www.rpra.org/ Read about some of the brave pigeons - it is quite humbling!

The Animals in War memorial is in Park Lane, Mayfair.

(Information for this blog taken from Pigeons in War leaflet from the Royal Pigeon Racing Association leaflet.

Pinkie's Flock and Chess's flock..... and Angel

This blog is just a general update, more for me than for anyone reading!

There seems to be two small feral flocks. Pinkie's flock is named after Pinkie who I have mentioned before. Pinkie is the tamest dove out of all who visit my garden. She is definitely female as I have seen her being 'courted' (but not mated). She wears a thick bright pink ring, so is easily recognisable and obviously someone else at some time ringed her.

I go out to feed the doves at 7.30 am in the morning. Pinkie and her flock are usually waiting for me, on the roof or the lawn. They walk and fly towards me, which is gratifying, and I always wear my bright turquoise dressing gown as I read in my dove book that pigeon fanciers keep a special coat that they put on when they go into their lofts so the pigeons recognise them. One day when it was pouring recently I put my white coat over my dressing gown and the doves didn't come down to feed until I had gone away. I scoop up their food from a metal bin near the house into an old blue plastic round washing up bowl that used to belong to my mother and then I collect their feeding trays from the shed kitchen where I leave them overnight. I take any food left over in at dusk, and clear the table of stray grain to discourage rats, as we have had problems with them in the past.

I set the trays on the big garden table that I use as a feeding station and start filling them. Pinkie is always the first to fly down, while I am still filling the trays. She is a big, confident dove and will start eating and the others quickly follow, fluttering down around me - but not too close! Two or three will often stay on the roof until I move away. I read an interesting article about how one bird will watch over the flock, taking the role of sentry while the others eat, and this does seem to happen here. Often one dove will stay on top of the roof, scanning the sky. I also stay close for the morning feed to discourage the hawk. And keep away the magpies, the squirrel, the pheasant and the jackdaws who like to take over the table.

I also scatter food for the little garden birds on the edge of the table and nearby ground.

Then I move a short distance away and watch them; always checking their feet for rings, in the hope that I might see John, or Columba - who came back at Easter - or even Pax. And now also for Angel.

***

Angel's Story

I came out of the kitchen door just as the hawk was tussling with the dove almost in front of me - it was all so quick that it was impossible to really see. The hawk flew off and the dove sort of hopped to shelter - the coal bunker again - and got stuck. I picked her up very gently, holding her wings close against her body and she had blood on her. My husband came and terribly gently stretched out her wings to see if they were ok. We felt she was frightened and scratched more than badly hurt and put her, with food and water, in the dog travelling box 'hospital' for the night to recuperate. If I have a poorly dove I always put the box up high in the shed, and make sure the door is firmly shut.

The next morning, early, I brought the box out of the shed and Angel appeared keen to get out as she several times tried to batter down the grille door. I carefully removed her and ringed her - not an easy feat without assistance. I would have waited for my husband to come home and help, but felt it wasn't fair to Angel. I had to use a pink ring but it doesnt show up well against a dove's pink feet. I don't know why they make them pink and white! My last selection were pink, white, green, orange, yellow and purple. Red and blue would be more sensible than pink and white.

I put Angel onto the feeding table and she walked about and fluffed up her wings a little, and then tried to fly ..... and couldn't! She fluttered to the ground and spent the next couple of hours, hiding near the hedge or sitting on a very low perch we have at the bottom of the dovecote.

Angel

Eventually she seemed to have got her head together and flew away, buI haven't seen her since then. I don't blame her for not wanting to visit the garden where the claws of death might be waiting.

***

Pinkie is probably the leader of her morning flock, and often the only one that I can recognise amongst them all - the rest being totally white.

Chess's flock come in the afternoon and are less tame. Chess, so named by my daughter, as he has beautifully marked black feathers in his tail, is definitely male as I have seen him displaying courting behaviour. I don't think he is the leader of the flock, but he is one I can recognise easily. Sometime Liquorice, a dark feathered dove, is there too, and another one similar to Chess with dark tail feathers.

Chess

There are about a dozen doves in each little flock, and sometimes in the afternoons they are all there together, sunning themselves on the roof. I often have individual doves just turn up for a quick feed when the main groups are elsewhere, or sometimes a pair will stay for the afternoon or a small group of three or four.

I had really been thinking about homing another flock of my own - say 6 doves - next Spring, but now after the attack on Angel I am wavering again.

A dove came to the table a week or so ago, and appeared to have what looked like an egg between its legs. I managed to get a photo - see what you think. (If you click on it, it should enlarge) I started worrying that it was some sort of horrible tumour, but my husband said it was obviously just an egg, that had got stuck (with *hit as glue - nice!) and would no doubt soon get crushed. How weird though!

There's always something interesting to see!

Columba - back from the dead?

17.3.08

My beautiful dove, Columba, went missing on 2nd December '06. It was the same day that his sister, Lily came back home injured, possibly shot. I assumed that the doves had been shot at, as there was a shoot that day on the farm, and that Columba had died. We looked after Lily, and she recovered (see previous blogs) but I was still very sad that we'd lost Columba. He was a stunning pure white dove and fairly tame.

Today, when I went into the garden to feed the doves, they were all congregating on the feeding table, picking over the leftovers, and waiting impatiently for their breakfast. They flew to the roof while I filled the pans and flew back again before I'd even finished. I stayed close and watched them for a while; looking at all their feet and hoping to see John's purple ring.

Suddenly I realised that one dove was wearing a ring - a white ring. Not that easy to see on a white dove, although their feet are pink. At first I thought 'Oh that's nice, a ringed dove, one I can recognise, what shall I call him?' and then it struck me - Columba ! We didn't know for sure that he had died and he had been ringed with a white ring!

I thought about it and have decided that it most probably is my dove, Columba and I am very very happy to see him again after more than 15 months! In all the time I have been keeping doves (approx. 21 months) apart from my own I have only ever seen two other doves/pigeons with rings. One is the white dove I call Pinkie who wears a thick pink ring, and the other was a racing pigeon who stayed near us for a few days. He seemed poorly and we called him Eric - he wore two rings I think. So it would seem likely that a pure white dove, wearing a white ring of the type I use, is in fact Columba, rather than some random dove who happens to be ringed with white.

I wonder where he has been all this time, and what he has been doing? He certainly looked very well, and didnt have the slightly bedraggled look that some of the feral flock get.

Maybe the doves were shot at that December and he got frightened away. Or maybe he just left to find a mate.

When I left the house today he was on the lower part of the roof and I could see his ring clearly. He (and I think he is a he, although I don't know for sure) was with another dove, which appeared to be female (slender neck) so maybe he does have a mate.

I got into the car but a bird circling high up in the sky caused me to worry, and I got out and stood looking up for a while until it had gone away. I'm not sure it was the sparrowhawk, but I think it might have been.

When I got home later one of my neighbours had found a dead dove in her garden - the poor thing had been half eaten. But was not John. I am getting hardened to it now although it is distressing. But even this gruesome death has not destroyed my pleasure in having my prodigal son return just before Easter!

****

Photo shows two of the feral flock on the table and a pheasant who seems to like my garden at the moment!

Note: Columba and Lily were the first pair of squabs raised in my dovecote. Parents: Pax and Persephone.

RIP Seagull and Blanche..... and Snowdrop

I went up to the Wildlife Aid centre today to enquire after Seagull and Blanche and was told that both had been put down due to the paramyxo virus.

Yesterday morning I found another pure white dead dove in the garden. It was a delicate young bird so I named it Snowdrop.

Not much I can do, but it is upsetting.

(photos are recent ones of the feral flock - the one on the ladder is Spike)

The Doves Return

Pax and Persephone, John and Irene had all flown away and I just stood there in the yard outside our garden gate crying. Hub3, who hates to see me in distress, jumped into one of his vehicles and said he drive round the village seeing if he could see them anywhere. He came back with no news, and I was a crumpled heap of misery in the armchair.

I couldnt settle to do anything. I kept looking out of the window, or going out to scan the sky. The worst thing about it was the babies in the nest box. I made Hub3 promise that if the parents didnt come back he would you-know-what them rather than them suffer a horrible death from starvation.

I had bought a book with dove information in it and it gave the telephone number of a man who has kept white garden doves for many years. Despite it being Sunday, I was so desperate I decided to ring him.

He turned out to be a seemingly very surly gentleman, but doves are obviously his life so after a few minutes he warmed to me and assured me that they probably would be back. Go out and tap a metal plate and put food out, he said in an old fashioned way. Well, I don't have any metal plates, but I improvised and tapped and called. And I prayed very hard!

All day long I worried about the babies. The dove man had said that they wouldnt last longer than 24-48 hours without their parents. In another way I was glad there were babies,because the doves had something to return for. Surely they wouldnt abandon their babies?

I had gone on to our little 'island' which is in the middle of the river adjoining our cottage, and accessed by a rough bridge. From there I could see all of the sky, and some of the garden and the dovecote. I had the binoculars with me. It was late in the afternoon. Suddenly out of nowhere I saw one white dove alight on the fence separating our garden from the river. I held my breath, and crouching low, so as not to be seen I crossed the bridge and went back into the garden and watched from behind some plants.

To be perfectly honest, I can't exactly remember what happened next but one by one, slowly, three of the doves returned and fed, and then, thankfully, fed the babies. Using binoculars I could see the rings, and knew that Irene was the missing one. Eventually, about 7pm, even she had returned and was sitting on the nearby roof. I was so happy and thankful to have my beautiful doves back. (Hub3 breathed a sigh of relief probably!)

Two weeks later the babies, Lily and Columba, were ready to leave the nest and it was amusing to watch the parents trying to entice them out. When they did come out they just sort of fluttery-tumble-plummet straight to the ground. We have some pampas grass near the base of the dovecote. I don't like it particularly but it does afford shelter to baby doves, just out of the nest. Once out, we ringed them: Lily pink and Columba white. I can't exactly remember how long it takes the babies to learn to fly - a few days to a week I suppose. During that time they are very vulnerable to predators, but our garden is wire- fenced, so Yorkie, my tiny Yorkshire Terrier, can't squeeze through the hedge and we don't often get cats. There are mink in the river and these do sometimes come into the garden, and they are vicious creatures. So every night when the adult doves were getting ready to settle into the dovecote for the night, we would pick the babies up and pop them in too, to be safe. This is easier said than done - the babies don't want to be picked up by people and can move pretty fast! One night we had to be away for the night and Em had been given strict intructions that the babies MUST be put in the cote. She told us that she had spent ages, in the rain, going round and round the pampas grass trying to catch Lily. We have a small net that we use but it is still not easy, and of course you don't want to damage the bird.

Soon enough, the babies had learnt to fly and we had a lovely little flock of six. I really enjoyed this time in the late summer. I fed the doves twice a day, morning and afternoon. In the afternoons I would sit on the grass and throw their feed, and they would all come pecking round me. The summer of 2006 was a lot better than this summer and I always seemed to be sitting on the grass, in the sun, with my beautiful dove angels around me.

Pax was definitely the leader of the flock. He was the one who decided when they would fly down to feed. and often if I didnt come out quick enough with the food in the afternoons he would come up to the kitchen door and wait for me. I loved him, and I loved them all. Columba was another beautiful dove who was extra-special to me.

When friends or family came, especially with children, it was a delight to see them enjoy the doves and feed them too.

Every time I came in or out of the garden I would consciously or unconsciously count the doves, just to make sure all six were there. One day I did a double take, there were seven doves on the roof! Another day there were eight, and once even nine! I was so happy to have visiting doves.

I write to my elderly mother weekly and there was always something new to write about with the doves.

But the summer idyll came to an end in the middle of October......

To be continued....

My new blog for my doves

I want to have a blog just for my doves so will start at the beginning of their story, which started when Hub3 and I got married at the end of April 2006.

My mother gave us some money for a wedding present, which she said was from herself and my father, although he had died 10 months before. I don't know how the idea got into my head but I decided that I would love to have a dovecote, especially as we have the perfect garden for it. Although many people call pigeons 'flying rats' I have always been fond of them, and as a little girl it was a treat to buy a paperbagful of food from the pet shop on the corner on Richmond Green and feed the pigeons, and an even bigger treat to do so at Trafalgar Square.

The kind of 'doves' I keep are really just white pigeons and are referred to as white garden doves. They are not fantails or anything special. But of course they are very beautiful and special to me!

Hub3 was agreeable to the idea but said we must ask our landlord as we rent our cottage from a country estate. The land owner who is rather posh said that he thought a dovecote would be 'a charming idea'. I was so excited - I started researching doves and dovecotes on the net, and discovered Kootensaw Dovecotes who have a very pretty website http://www.dovecotes.co.uk/

As the doves need to be confined for a homing period of six weeks, we couldn't get them any earlier than June as I wanted to be there for them, and we had our honeymoon and other commitments before then.

So I chose a beautiful white (expensive) dovecote and we had it delivered. Hub3 and some mates erected it for me, and it awaited its occupants.

I spent some pleasant dreamy moments choosing my doves names. We had decided to start with two pairs (now I wish we had started with three pairs). I immediately decided to call one pair after my parents - John and Irene. John is a funny name for a dove, but Irene means 'peace' so very appropriate really! The second male I decided to call Pax which of course also means peace, and his mate's name was to be Persephone. I chose this partly because it is pretty and springlike (although Queen of the Underworld) and I also thought it sounded well with Irene; John and Irene, Pax and Persephone.

The four doves arrived by special carrier on the 15th June 2006. We got them out of the carrying boxes and ringed them, not knowing at the time which sex they were or which doves were pairs. The rings were yellow, green, purple and orange.

The dovecote was netted for the homing period and staked to the ground. So the doves had the dovecote and a semi-circle of grass only to be their home for the next six weeks. I hated confining them but it was part of the process; otherwise they would've just flown back to wherever they came from.

It was absorbing watching them. I hadnt realised how they would all have their separate personalities. I knew nothing about keeping doves either, but had been assured by Kootensaw that it was perfectly simple.

It was soon obvious that orange and purple rings were male. So orange became Pax and purple, John. Green was paired with orange and became Persephone. Irene was yellow and paired with John. It was also obvious that Pax and Persephone were a strong, loving couple and Pax was the alpha male. I hated to see him running after John and pecking him to show who was boss. I had never realised the significance of the phrase 'the pecking order' til then! John and Irene, unlike my parents, did not seem that interested in each other. Irene seemed young and rather aloof.

Pax and Persephone immediately got down to business and set up home in the nestbox they considered 'best' - probably the one that gets the most light or something. We very soon realised that they had laid eggs and were very excited. The babies were hatched on 17th July and all the doves were still under the homing net.

The new babies were named Columba and Lily. I chose the name Columba and my daughter, Em, named Lily. We didnt know if they were male or female. It is apparently very difficult to sex doves even if you are an expert. It's easier to wait and see what characteristics they show when they are older.

Baby doves stay in the nestbox being looked after and fed by their parents until they are approx four weeks old, so the babies, Lily and Columba, were about two weeks old and very visible and noisy when the day arrived to take off the homing net.

We followed instructions as to how and when to remove the net, and got up early one Sunday morning. Hub3 removed the stakes, dragged off the net, and the doves peeked out.

Within minutes they had all realised their freedom and flown completely away. I burst into tears!

To be continued.....