The Doves This Summer - May to early Sept '10

So, so long since I've written about the doves, and now.... how to put the whole summer in a nutshell? It was the end of April, in my last blog, and I was only seeing 4-8 doves in the mornings, and 4-5 in the afternoons. Yet, by 5th Sept 2010 there were 40 doves and pigeons on the roof! And I love the coloured ones as much as the white ones! The numbers have crept up and up On the 9th June I noted in my log that I saw 13 white doves, including Peace and Harmony. Peace is my dove that came down the chimney the day my mother died, and then I ringed her, and Harmony was a ringed dove (not by me) that was often with her, but didn't seem to be her mate. I haven't now seen him for a while.
By the middle of July, due to the new young doves (squabs) coming with their parents, the number was up to about 25, and by the middle of August, 31. Not all young ones of course, many are just nomad doves 'joining in', I guess.
My most wonderful surprise flew into my garden on the 19th June. Victory, my own dove, hatched in my dovecote in Spring '09 had come back! She - and I know she's a she now - hadn't been seen since August '09! I was sorry when she'd gone, but by going off she missed the mass cull in Oct. '09, thank heavens. Victory came back two days before my darling little Yorkshire Terrier died, giving me some comfort in my loss. She didn't seem to be around much in July, and I suspected she had gone off with Grey Joseph, as I'd seen him courting her, but she came back in August with him in tow! I'm not sure if they are mates, though. Grey Joseph formely courted Peace, but nothing seemed to come of it, and has also been seen with a white female.

Grey Joseph courting Victory (3 pics above)

Victory - she is 18 months old now
Grey Joseph with a white female

My special and distinctive pair, Chocolate Brownie (m) and Dalmation Dove (f) are here every day, and very tame. They know if they hang around, after the others have gone, I will start dishing out the peanuts! They've been busy this summer, having babies! Here's some of the courtship ritual in photos.Hen-pecked CB! - sorry this pic got elongated somehow!

And here's their babies, what sweet little birds, and what a mix of mum and dad! Here they are with Peace. Sadly, after this photo I never saw the second one again.
I call the remaining baby, Chocolate DD
and here he is with his father

No sooner was Chocolate DD raised than CB and DD were mating again, and one day another young one appeared with them. Dark grey speckled, instead of brown speckled this time!
In between Mother and Father on the roof
Soon after, the baby's twin appeared and I gave my husband the naming of the them - so now we have light head Inca and dark head Inca. These two look incredibly similar to the speckled pair in the my Nov. '09 blog.... I assume those two didn't last the winter or flew away as I haven't seen them since. They may have been raised too late in the year. I found a dove/pigeon egg in the water bath at the end of August. Sometimes the eggshell attaches to the underneath of one of the parents, and gets washed off in the bath! Pigeons can breed at any time of the year, if food is plentiful, but squabs hatched at the end of August won't be fledging til mid Oct and that's not the best start in life!

Another easily recognised bird in the very dark Noir. When I first saw him on the roof my heart skipped a beat and I thought it was my beloved Nero come back, but it wasn't. Still Noir has stuck around and is my darkest pigeon. From zero pigeons, I now have maybe up to 10 regulars.

Noir, with white dove, making himself heard!

To be cont.....

The Crippled Dove and why he had to go

My husband dubbed the dove with the crippled foot who had taken over the dovecote, Long John Silver. Silver for short. I wasn't too happy he had jumped in there almost immediately the babies had fledged, but as long as he left them alone I didn't mind too much and hoped he would find a mate.

Although Silver spent much time bowing up and down in male dove courting fashion (even when alone) none of the females seemed interested in him. He didn't spend nights in the dovecote, just part of each day. He would fly here in the morning and re-establish his claim, either sitting smugly in the nesting box or blocking one of the entrances. Later, he would join the others, and there seems to be a little flock of 5 to 15 doves within the larger flock who spend all day here, which is really lovely as I enjoy seeing them on the roof.

In the early evenings about 6 - 7 pm when the doves start thinking about going back to their night time roosts, Silver would go back to the nest box. And of course so would my 7 week old squabs, Victory and Purity, as they were born there. Silver wasn't allowing them in their orginal nest box but they both packed in together in one of the others and seemed content enough. I wasn't happy about Silver - the last thing I wanted was another crusty old bachelor dove in the cote, like John had been after Lily died.

Victory and Purity, in together, and nervous about what Silver would do next.

As the days went on Silver got more aggressive. He would settle himself in the nestbox and then keep popping out to see where the babies where. One evening, strangely, he blocked the entrance while the two young birds were inside. Other times he would force them out of whichever part of the dovecote they had attempted to settle in. But every night by 8pm at the latest he had flown off and away and they could sleep in peace.

Sunday 10th May, and I had had a stressful two weeks with my daughter in and out of hospital and wasn't in the mood for any dovie trouble. Silver kept harrassing the babies; routing them out of wherever they were hiding in the dovecote and forcing them to fly back to the roof. Then he'd settle himself, and they'd sneak in at the back, and after a while he'd do it again. Obviously he wasn't going to allow them to live there and it was past 8pm and he showed no sign of leaving. I couldn't stand it and went out and trapped him in the nestbox by blocking it with my hand. Then I removed him to a secure box (with food and water).

I rang my sister, a sensible retired farmer's wife, and she said that she felt it was unlikely Silver would find a mate this late in the season or indeed ever, especially with a crippled foot. Doves. like all animals, are aware when something is wrong with one of their number. She also confirmed what I was feeling - that the young birds, Victory and Purity, are my hope for having a few doves living in my dovecote permanently and that Silver wasn't going to help matters to say the least.

I made up my mind, and although I felt worse than when I'd got rid of the devil dove (see previous blogs) I still felt I was doing the right thing. Without going into details, my husband despatched the crippled dove the next day as quickly and humanely as possible. I really wish this hadn't been necessary.

I cleaned out the nestbox Silver had been using. This was easier than before as I had taken the hint (don't know where I read it) to line the inside of the box with a folded over sheet of newspaper with a bit of hay on top. The fouled newspaper came out relatively easily.... and straight into a plastic bag to be disposed of! Then I relined with more paper, and hay. When no doves are actually rearing babies I check the boxes and clean if necessary about once a month. When I got the cote the makers Kootensaw Dovecotes http://www.dovecotes.co.uk/ suggested that once a year would be adequate! Believe me, pigeon/dove poo sets like concrete and you wouldn't want to be cleaning out a year's worth. Also I want to keep the doves as healthy as possible and roosting every night in a pile of poo is not very hygienic!

11th May - I wondered whether Victory and Purity would settle in the dovecote or whether the harrassment from last night might have put them off. They were both in the cote by 8pm and did spend a bit of time popping from box to box, and peeking out craning their necks around, obviously wondering if they were about to be hounded out each time they settled. They didn't stay together, but in two different sections, but they did stay, thank goodness.

Victory (left, pink ring) and Purity (purple) on the island wall.

A quick update on the general flock - The only other ringed doves I am seeing are Nero, shown here with a big neck in courting mode. I love the purple colour of his neck feathers. And Sweetie, who I caught and ringed last summer. There are another pair of young doves, seemingly about the same age as Victory and Purity and I think they were the ones born in the barn. I went to the barn one evening and they were there, alone, and babies always go back to the place they were hatched, unless for some reason they are not able to, or are hounded away by other older doves, as Silver was trying to do to Victory and Purity.

The end.

Victory Flies!

Tuesday 28th April 09

If you want to read about the Dove Naming Competition it is in the blog below this one.

Hope didn't feed the squabs, Victory and Purity, for the first time on the evening of Wed. 22nd when they were 35 days old (I go on Victory's age, Purity is a day younger). She did feed them on the Thurs evening but not again since in the evenings. I have seen her feed them during the day, but ONLY if they come out onto the hedge. She won't feed them in the nestbox. Of course this is her way of getting them out and making them independent. When she didn't feed them in the evenings, I got them out of the nestbox when she'd gone away and put them on the ground with small grains - and they fed themselves! From approx. 39 days, they could put themselves to bed, by short flights from the ground, to the stump, to the hedge and then into the nestbox. I was relieved when they could do this as it made them so much safer.

I sneak up on the babies to see if they are actually feeding, and to take a photo.

In case you wonder why I note the dates and how many days old the babies are all the time, it is so I know what is roughly to be expected next time that I have any squabs, and can hopefully worry less about what is normal!

Not a very good photo, but shows the feeding tussle in the hedge. The babies try to get to Hope's beak - sometimes she refuses, sometimes she gives in.


One baby, probably Victory, with Hope. There is not much size difference now - the baby is on the right. When you see them in reality, though, the babies are much more delicate and still have yellow down on their heads.This photo was taken at 40 days old.

I obviously had to make a decision not to keeping removing them from the nestbox at night and bringing them into the house. The first night I thought I might do it, I checked the temperature and it had dropped very low, so decided against it. The next night (39 days old) it was mild, so I left them and I didn't even worry about them, but was up at 6.30 am to see if they were ok. I just caught Hope on the hedge trying to entice them out. She has been a brilliant mother to these fatherless squabs. The info I've read says that many lone pigeon parents will chuck one squab out of the nest if the other parent dies when the babies are very small as they can only cope with feeding one baby on their own.

Monday 27th April and again I was up early, to feed the flock and check the babies. Hope had both babies out on the hedge with her. I pottered about in the garden changing the doves bath water and checking on the plants. Suddenly there was a flutter of wings and a small dove almost touched my head as he flew past - it was Victory! He'd found his wings and landed on the main roof of the house (not as high as some houses as our 'cottage' is a bungalow).

He seemed to look around in amazement! Wow, up so high! and proud of his achievement.

Then walked along the top of the roof to where the other doves were. Young birds are likely to get 'picked on' by older birds. There is definitely a pecking order in all flocks, large or small. But I hope if Victory and Purity stay close to the dovecote they will not interfere with any other dove's arrangements and therefore stay out of trouble. I often wonder what happened to poor little Smudge - (see previous blogs) She/he was only a squab really and probably couldn't cope with the new environment.

By 7.30 am that morning Victory had flown away with Hope and the others and I wondered if I would ever see him again. Poor little Purity was left on the ground on her own.

She soon put herself back in the nest box where she feels safe.

I felt a little bit sad, but later on when I got up on the steps to check if Purity was in the nestbox and ok, I found Victory cuddled up beside her! Ah, what a nice big brother he is! (I call Victory 'he' and Purity 'she', but no idea what sex they are. It is extremely difficult to sex pigeons until they are older and display male/female behaviour).

In the afternoon, Victory came out onto the lower roof adjacent to the dovecote with Hope and Pascoe.

Here he is, top right - you can just see the pink ring.

And again, with mummy Hope. Her pink food colouring mark has entirely gone now, and I only recognise her by her feathered legs and attention to the squabs.

Purity hasn't caught up yet, but of course she is a day behind in development. Today is Tuesday and we go away for one night tomorrow. Back again on Thursday, but for one night only before going away for three full days. I must leave the babies to Hope!

The end (you may have to scroll down a bit for the comments section).

First Picture

Friday 27th March 2009





I just couldn't resist! While Hope was off the nest - which is most of the day now! - I got the step-ladder, put it up on the path, and used the zoom to get a picture of inside the dovecote. I didn't want to upset Hope or the baby/ies so I didn't put the ladder right up against the dovecote. With my naked eye I could see a fuzzy, misty little shape in the gloom and the photo shows the little baby, all yellow and fluffy! Yes, I know he's not cute, but I am so happy to see he is well. There may be another one in there too!





So this is the 'one week old' photo

Hope prefers to spend her day sitting on the roof, or flying with her friends. I am always concerned about her safety, and the welfare of the squab/s, until I see her back in the nestbox again.

I have managed to mark her, by flicking food colouring onto her back, and it is helpful that I can recognise her at feeding times.

I am still trying to have no expectations, but after seeing the baby, I can't help it!

The end

Doves in the barn

Sunday 9th March '08

We live on a farm and today it occured to me to go down to the big barn to see if there was any evidence on doves roosting there at the moment. Doves have been there in the past.

The barn is big and airy, with open entrances - no doors. I walked in, watching my feet, as they are currently digging up the floor, prior to renovating the whole building. There were various feathers on the ground and some of them looked liked dove feathers. I walked to the far end, and there amongst the dirty bits of straw and general debris I found a discarded white eggshell!

I looked up to the rafters and could see a white dove on a precariously balanced scrappy nest. He or she was busy and didn't spot me at first. It was more likely that it was the male on the nest at that time, as it was about 1pm, and the male does the day shift, from about 10 am to 4pm. Then the female takes over for the longer night shift, from 4pm to the following morning.

I picked up the egg and watched the parent dove for a short time. He finished fussing with the squab/s (babies) and appeared to notice me. I walked slowly and quietly away so as not to disturb. As I left I scanned the beams for other doves, and noticed a smallish fluffy one sitting up high, but near the entrance to the barn. It was probably the female. She would no doubt stay close, unless she was off looking for food.

I felt cheered to know that at least one pair of doves are nesting close by. It is possible that it is John and a mate because anything is possible, but I don't really think so.

Before dusk a lone dove sat on the roof here for a long while and then came down for a feed before flying swifly away. Perhaps the mother dove before she had to sit for the night?

(Photo shows a dove on a nest, but not the one in the barn of course)

Missing Doves

The summer was over and we were well into October '06 when I realised my dove, Irene, was missing. Now my little flock was settled I had never thought that something would happen to any of them, or that they would fly away. She didn't return, and John, her supposed mate, didn't seem that bothered. They had never been a proper bonded pair like Pax and Persephone, and I presume the dove people that sent them had just picked a male and a female and sent them off. I was very sorry of course and hoped that she would come back one day.

So now we were down to five doves, and the occasional visitor, although now the summer was over the visiting doves no longer seemed to regard us as 'summer camp'! We had had a ringed racing pigeon amongst the flock for quite a while - long enough for us to name him Eric, but having seen him in a bad way, gasping for breath poor thing, we had assumed he had died.

We live on a farm and not being a country girl born and bred I hadn't considered the shooting season. I don't even know when it starts........ I don't want to know. Every time I heard the guns I was petrified for my dovie angels. I tried to mentally keep them close to the garden and dove-cote by drawing imaginery circles of light around them, but one dreadful day - 2nd December - after the shoot, my exceptionally beautiful dove, Columba, less than five months old, failed to come home and the other 'baby', Lily, came home injured. We could see the blood on her white feathers.

That evening when the doves went to bed in the dovecote, poor Lily tried to follow them, but she couldn't fly. She must have been shot at fairly close to home and just glided, somehow, to the roof. So in the evening, attempting to get into the dovecote, she just tumbled into the hedge.

Hub3 and I rescued her. It stabbed me through the heart to know that men, seeing a small flock of white doves, obviously pets, had deliberately shot at them. I assumed that poor Columba was dead. He was never seen again.

And now we only had four doves.

Hub3 cradled Lily gently in his hands and we examined her. Luckily it didnt seem too bad; grazes rather than anything worse perhaps. We put her in the dovecote, with a few seeds and a tiny bowl of water.

Every day over the next week poor Lily came out of the dovecote and tumbled on to the hedge. She spent the day there, occasionally flapping her poor injured wing and trying to fly to the others. We made sure there was plenty of food for her there and her own water supply. At that time I was still feeding the others on the lawn, but it may have been then that Hub3 started complaining about how they wreck the lawn, and we started putting the pans on the hedge. Every night we caught her and put her safely out of harm's way back in the cote. Every time we checked her injuries and they were healing well,with no sign of heat or infection.

One day I went out shopping and when I came back there was no Lily on the hedge, and no Lily on the lawn or anywhere about. I was devastated and assumed that a predator - sparrowhawk perhaps or a cat or mink - had swooped down and taken her, injured and unable to fly, off the hedge. I felt dreadful., and very responsible, having left her there, a sitting target. I spent a miserable night.

Early the next day however I found her wandering out in the yard, and soon she could fly again and all was well.

The shoots continued and every time I held my breath worrying about what would happen, but all was well. We had our bonded pair, Pax and Persephone, and we had John, and we had Lily.

Now of course we had named Lily but we didn't know if she was male or female. I hoped she would be female, and I hoped that she and John would become a pair. Then we would have two breeding pairs, and our poor little flock would increase again.

The doves didn't mind the winter or the snow. They look stunning and extra white against blue or leaden grey skies. I took some amazing photos of them in the snow, but unfortunately these were lost when our old lap top died and went to heaven.

So we crept slowly towards Spring and I was hopeful that one or both pairs would start nesting again. I didn't know that another dreadful thing was just about to happen.....

To be continued.....

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....