The Spring has sprung....

The Spring has sprung,

The grass is rizz, I wonder where the birdies is?......

I've absolutely no idea where that line of 'poetry' came from but it seemed appropriate for today, Feb. 8th 2008, as it has been so lovely and sunny.

And where my birdies are ..... is on the roof!

Several of you have been kind enough to ask me to update my dove blog. There is not much to say really, but I am pleased to report that John is doing well, out and about on the roof with the others, although no sign of a mate yet. He now wakes up in the dovecote, and when a few others arrive on the tiled roof opposite, he joins them, feeds with them and then flies off with them to wherever they go to.....coming back later in the day.

Francis was on the roof too today,in the afternoon, and I was delighted to see him as it has been a while. He was displaying typical male courting behaviour - bowing and turning round in circles! What a handsome dove he is! Valentine's Day is the traditional day for the birds to pair up - I do so hope that my Francis finds a mate and sets up home in the dovecote, but I fear John won't let them, even though Francis is his son! I don't want John to be excluded of course - I hope he finds a new mate of his own!

Before we went on holiday I saw Francis' brother, Iona, with his mate - they were walking in the gravelled area between our neighbours' cottages, and ambling along, not worried they might be run over at all. They almost seemed to be hand in hand. I pondered on a good name for the female and googled 'Iona'. The first thing that came up was Iona Abbey so I decided to call her Abbey. And Iona Abbey is a beautiful spiritual place that I have been to. so very appropriate.

Pinkie, a visitor with a thick pink ring, is also often here and so is a dove I call Flick as he/she has a funny little upflick of feather at the back of the head. My beautiful visitor Joseph is also here most days. I especially love the doves I can recognise by their physical differences. Today the highest number of doves I saw together on the roof was 38.

We have a constant battle with the jackdaws. They turn up en masse, sometimes 3 or 4, sometimes up to 15, and take over the feeding table. Every time I see them I open the back door and they fly away. The jay also likes to feed off the doves' food, as do the wood pigeons. And there is a cheeky squirrel helping himself whenever he feels like it.

While typing this I looked out of the window at the feeding table as I constantly do, and there was a bird of prey on the hedge! By the time I'd got to my camera, it had gone. I feed the little birds, bluetits etc on the table and off feeders nearby. They wouldn't have a chance if he decided to make them into a meal, poor little things. I looked in my bird book, but couldn't decide what it was.

That's all for now......

(The photo is of Pinkie of course)

I do a silly thing!

Today is 3rd January 2008, but this happened a few days ago.



The rats were really annoying me - as bold as brass they were coming out even in the day and eating the little bits of the doves' grain/seed on the ground that had fallen through the slats in the table. Presumably they are getting hungrier as I have been clearing the table at night, and thats why they are coming out in the day.

As I watched one came out of the hedge and had a long drink at the doves' water bowl! I was filled with rage and decided I would DO something about it..... despite the fact that husband and I were in the process of discussing ways and means.



When it got dusk, I cleared the doves pans away as usual and then sat on the big table with my old dog box that I sometimes use as a doves' hospital underneath, with food in it. I thought I might be able to trap one! In my hand I held the medium sized fishing/landing net that I use for trapping doves on the ground if I need to catch them. I planned to shut the door of the dog box with it when I had trapped a rat inside!



I sat on the table, and it was pretty cold, but after a few minutes a rat came out, but maybe smelt me and just ran along inside the hedge. I waited again...... and then thought how stupid I was being. Even if I caught a rat it would only be one, and would hardly cure the problem.



I decided to go in, but I had a little heap of food in the dog box. I didn't want to put the box back in the shed with the food still in because of mice.... and the rats. I couldn't tip it out on the ground. I couldn't put it in the dustbin cos I hadn't collected it from down the lane. Of course, I could have put it in the bin inside, but I didnt think of that. Holding the box by the grille at the front with one hand and on tiptoe, I held the box over the fence so the food would tip directly into the river.



Yes, you've guessed it..... the box came away from the grille and plopped into the river, leaving me holding the grille in one hand and the landing net in the other! Damn it, I couldn't believe I'd been so silly, I didn't want to lose that box.... so running quickly out of the garden, net in hand, I made my way into the wooded area beyond the gravelled yard where we park.



I leant out over the river, holding precariously on to an ivy-covered tree and yes! there was my box bobbing along towards me. Good, I thought, I'll be able to scoop it out. As I tried to position myself the ivy suddenly ripped off the tree and I staggered but managed to regain my footing. By the time I looked again the box had disappeared; I think it went under.

I realised how stupid I was being for the sake of a £2o-30 box. If I fell in I would probably be quickly swept away and might well drown as the river is deep enough at this point and flowing swiftly and no doubt coldly! I imagined my husband coming in to a warm cottage, stew in the aga, dog curled up on the sofa and no me.... until he gets news of me being fished out further upriver, dripping and dead!

The river has gone down slightly since then, but no box..... and I am still annoyed with myself!

Establishing the pecking order

Today, 28th Dec o7, I noticed another dove in one of the nesting box holes of the dovecote. As I went out to see who it was, it flew out and pushed its way into John's one..... and was speedily pushed out again by the owner himself! As it flew away I saw the green ring. Francis is obviously trying to take over the prime position in the dovecote from his father!

Later on today I saw Iona (yellow ring) actually mating with a female, right on top of the dovecote.

Maybe my Easter boys will bring new life back home in this coming year. I do hope so.

John was away on Christmas night

Boxing Day 2007

My dove, John, didn't spend Christmas night in the dovecote but today he was back and I noticed him displaying courting behaviour. He either has a new lady friend or is on the pull! Obviously I would be delighted if he brought a female back to nest in the dovecote. I can't forget poor Lily, but life and love must go on.

Also today there were an obvious male/female pair on the roof of the dovecote and when I approached cautiously I could see the male had a yellow ring and was my Iona (yes I know he has a girl's name but you can't tell a dove's sex when it is a baby).

Later on today, as well as John, there were two other doves in different sections of the dovecote and I hoped they would stay the night.... but they didn't.

So things are looking very hopeful at the moment, and there are still currently 20 -30 doves visiting on a daily basis.

There is one bit of sad news. Poor Speckles succumbed to paramyxo, and my husband's son, who is a gamekeeper, had to finish him off for me. I feel terrible about this.... but what is worse.... the poor thing was completely disorientated and couldn't even land on the feeding table (huge garden table)..... he would have starved to death. He was a beautiful dove with a lovely speckled pattern and feathered feet. RIP Speckles my dear.

The photo is of Speckles, some months ago.

Glimmer of hope for John

Nov. 27th '07

Sunday started badly - when I opened the door to let the dog out and feed the doves first thing in the morning, I found a dead dove with its head bitten off in the yard just outside our gate - white feathers everywhere. Very unpleasant, but thankfully not John, and I must be getting hardened to these losses. We don't know if it was fox, cat, mink or hawk.

Yesterday (Monday) when I came home it was already dark and John wasn't in the usual nest box. But there was a dove in a different one. This is unusual, and of course not being able to see his ring, I don't know if it was John or not.

Today, John was in his usual box and flew out early to join the others on the roof - later he went back in the box, and another dove flew up, peeked into a nestbox, and entered. And stayed a while!

I'm hoping that another dove, or pair, will 'home' here and we will have new families. Of course I also hope that John finds a new mate.

The only downside would be if the new dove/s drive John away.

How John is coping

It is a week today since poor Lily died.

The first day or so, John behaved fairly normally, although seemed rather lonely and appeared to be looking around for Lily, although I knew he had known she was ill.

Then he seemed to become depressed in a way - I don't know if that is possible in birds. I suppose it must be. I noticed that he wasnt coming out of the dovecote and kept a close eye on him. Eventually I decided to get the steps, and put some food up in the nestbox for him. He pecked at it, and then flew down to the water bowl on the lawn, then back to hedge - stretched his wings - and back into the nestbox. The weather of course has been very rainy and/or gloomy which hasnt helped, but there has been sunny periods.

I have kept putting food up for him, but it occurred to me today that as doves (pigeons) have no qualms about fouling their home, then it must be getting pretty gross in there by now, and not very healthy.

I agreed with my husband that if he still was not out by the weekend then we would have to take him out, at least while I cleaned the nestbox.

Today, as the sun shone, he came out and flew to the roof where there were about eight other doves, and preened himself. I shot out to clean out the nestbox, and put fresh hay in there. He has now gone back in but at least it is clean, and he has 'socialised' a bit.

My poor widowed dove - I hope he finds a new mate for the spring.

PS I have now added one of the last pictures of John and Lily together.

Lily died today

My bright, beautiful and beloved dove, Lily, died this morning.

I knew she was poorly as she had sat, hunched up, all day yesterday on the roof, hardly moving. John, her mate (named after my father) sat with her for most of the day, but as the sun started to go down, he went and ate and drank, and then went to bed in the normal place in the dovecote.

I watched Lily anxiously but there was nothing I could do. Eventually she edged slowly along the roof, until she was nearer the end of it, and nearer the dovecote, and the hedges where I put the food pans. I called her and put out food in front of her to see if I could encourage her down, but she stayed the night on the telegraph wire, near to the roof.

This morning I went out into the frosty garden at 7.00 am and she was just outside our gate, in the gravelled yard, on the ground. She couldnt fly, and made a feeble attempt to run away, but I netted her and put her in my 'hospital' box while I thought what to do. She wasnt showing any symptoms of paramyxo. Of course, I put food and water in the box, but she didnt appear to touch either.

My husband and I agreed that it seemed a good idea to put her back in the dovecote with food and water, and see what she did. I took her out of the hospital, having set up the steps, and put food and water in the dovecote. She seemed to change, but I put her in the dovecote anyway. Now I think she died then, in my hands, and maybe it wasn’t a good idea to move her from the hospital. But she has been handled many times before, and not died, and picking up a bird carefully doesn’t kill them, and I knew she was poorly anyway…..

I watched the dovecote on and off for two hours, but she didn’t move and very soon I noticed a fly or two around, so I went and put the steps up again and I could tell she was dead.

I am very sorry indeed to lose her, and concerned that John will fly away, as Pax did when Persephone was killed. I still see her Easter babies, Francis and Iona, with the feral flock, but they don’t home here.

Later on I gave poor Lily a lovely funeral with a little posy of small pink, white, blue and yellow flowers picked from the garden tucked into her feet, and sent her on her way down the river. She looked so white and beautiful that I took a photo of her first - some might think that macabre, but I don't.

John sat on the roof and another white dove kindly kept him company. I don’t think I could have borne it if he had to sit alone. He went to bed in the normal place in the dovecote at quarter to four. The other doves in the feral flock will come tomorrow and mostly at least some stay around all day. I hope he will find another mate out of them, but it is more likely, I suppose, that he will succumb to the virus. I presume Lily had paramyxo, although thankfully none of the distressing symptoms of head-twisting and turning round and round. And at least I didnt have to take her to the vet to be put down.

Lily's life: She was the squab (chick) of Pax and Persephone and hatched on 17.7.06 with her sibling, Columba. In December that year she was injured, presumed shot at, and I nursed her until she was better and able to fly again. Handling during nursing made her the tamest dove we had, and she was never scared to be near me. She mated with John, and became a mother at 8 months old, to Francis and Iona. She had more squabs right at the end of May but they died aged a few days old, and then more in July. They were the Ugly Dovelings who died aged 2 weeks. (More details on all of this in previous blogs) Lily died 15.11.07 aged 16 months. RIP my beautiful dovie angel.