The doves have deserted me!

8th August 2009

I keep a very rough garden notebook and jot down info about the doves, so I know that on the 8th of July I was seeing a flock of just under 50 doves (and the coloured pigeons that visit are included in that number) yet by the time I came back from a few days away I noted on 24th Julyu that there were only about 25. They were definitely fed while I was away so that's not the reason. One particular morning I went out to feed them and there were only TWO waiting on the roof - instead of the large flock I am used to. That day those two were Nero and Messalina (see previous blog) and that was probably the last time I have seen them. Neither are visiting at any time of the day for food and I went up to Pig Farm and they do not appear to have a nest there. I do hope I see my exquisite Nero, my beautiful black boy again. You wouldn't think you could miss a bird, but I do - very much. And I am also missing my March squab, Victory. I haven't seen her (I think she's a her) for several weeks. Purity, Elizabeth's God-dove, is still arriving for food every day, thank goodness and also Sweetie, who I caught and ringed last year. I suspect she may have a nest but I don't know where.

There are several nests up at Pig Farm, and the little squabs I saw last time I went up are now much bigger and more vocal. The top picture shows a couple of squabs probably about 4 weeks old. They move about freely on the shelf area that is obviously behind the red metal rafter. The second photo shows them cuddled up together, and a large squab or more probably a parent dove in a nest in the next 'house' along. Doves like to live together.

The day my mother died, 24th July, my sister rang me in the morning and I went down to Sussex to help. I arrived back in the early evening having been out all day. We have a three bedroomed cottage and now the girls are gone, two bedrooms are empty, though I use them for clothes and other things. There are chimneys in all the bedrooms, and we have had doves down them before. Recently I removed two bodies from one (closed) chimney and this upset me very much, so I have removed the metal plates that close the chimneys to at least give a dove-down- -the-chimney a fighting chance! Anyway, that evening I did go into one of the bedrooms and noticed a little soot and grit in the fireplace, but I was tired and didn't think much of it. The next morning my husband and I were having breakfast in the sitting room and he remarked 'There's a dove in our bedroom' - as the door was closed I wondered how he knew, but there are slight cracks in the wood panels of the door and when I got up to look, yes there was a dove in our bedroom! Firstly I assumed it had flown in through the open window, but doves are not like the little robins and blue-tits that frequently fly into the house and I remembered the soot in the hearth from yesterday. She had obviously hidden overnight, and then walked through and ended up in our room. We caught and ringed the dove (yellow and red rings) and set her free - poor thing, she seemed dazed for a while and then made straight for the water bath to have a drink. Hopefully, she wasn't too dehydrated - doves only drink a couple of times a day. Then I checked the spare room out again and in the gap between the bed and the wall there was a pile of droppings on the carpet. She had come down the chimney on the day Mummy died and been there overnight. We named her Peace, as Mummy's name, Irene, means Peace (from the Greek) - see http://www.behindthename.com/ for the etymology and history of first names - an interesting site.

I know Peace is a female as I have seen a ringed male (not one of mine) courting her - and she is still visiting (though he is not!) unlike Sooty who came down the same chimney 19th Sept. 08 (see last year's blogs, prob. Sept.Oct for her story and pics).

However, I don't despair about any the missing doves - they often reappear unexpectedly. On the 9th July I was surprised to see a white dove with an orange ring on it's left foot and did wonder if it was my beloved Pax - one of my first four doves and my first breeding male. I haven't seen him again since, but I do hope it was him, coming to say hello.

The only explanations that I can think of for the lack of doves is many are nesting so I don't see them all together, there is plenty of food in the fields as it is summer and/or the flock split as it was too big. I don't blame the sparrowhawks for such a large decrease.

I have uploaded two montages of photos with music to YouTube - thanks to Jane Grey for help there. If you haven't seen her beautiful Hope in Paris sequence of pictures (baby woodpigeon) then click on her name on my list of followers and you will see the link below - well worth a visit. My own selections of photos are titled 'A Pure White Dove' and 'White Doves Bathing'. When I work out how to put a link from YouTube to my blog I will do so! The end.

Where do you go to my lovelies?

6th June '09

The doves all fly away at night, or rather they come and go during the day and I didn't really know where they spent their nights and time away from here. Now I've found out!

The very night that Victory and Purity celebrated their 9 week old birthday they didn't come back to sleep in the dovecote. Big doves now! They decided to be in with the in crowd and go off with the rest of the flock, leaving a sad me and an empty dovecote. They are now over 11 weeks old, and I see them at feeding times, or when they choose to spend time in the garden.

Purity, left, and Victory searching for grains on the lawn


Purity and Victory often stay together when they are eating

Playing hide and seek round the pots!

And Victory looks up at the pot thinking 'I wonder if there is something yummy in there?' I have already had to move a pink as the doves kept pecking off the buds.

We went to a BBQ at a local farm recently. My husband had often mentioned that the farmer had a lot of doves in his barn and that maybe they were mine, but I didn't really think about it as I assumed my doves spent their nights on a much nearer farm. At the BBQ, as the sun started to go down, the farmer pointed to the sky and said 'They're coming in now' and I could see a flock of white doves flying over the fields. It's a beautiful sight on a warm tranquil evening. Of course I hadn't got my camera with me! I asked the farmer to take me to see where the doves were roosting, and whilst we walked round he told me that, initially, he had tried to prevent the doves getting in the barn by putting up wire, shutting doors etc but they always got in and now he doesn't bother. 'They make a mess' he said cheerfully 'But so do the horses!' He also said that despite the mess, he likes them, so it looks like they have a home for life!

As soon as we got to the barn - which is actually a metal building erected to use as an indoor schooling area for ponies, with sand on the ground, I saw Nero sitting outside. There is no way that I could mistake him as he has such distinctive dark colouring and orange and green rings. 'That's my Nero!' I gasped. I hadn't really believed til then that the doves would fly so far, though actually it's only about 10 minutes in the car down lanes, and probably quicker cross country as the doves fly. 'No, he's my Nero!' joked the farmer. 'You don't feed him' I teased 'He's mine!' ... 'Ah,' said the farmer 'But I give him lodging, and all his mates too!'

This is Nero - on my lawn. He really is MY Nero, as Bob Friar gave him to me!

Initally, when he was trying to keep the doves out of the barn, the farmer had kindly made them a wall dovecote and stuck in on the outside. Of course they don't use it! They much prefer the sheltered warm accomodation inside, with lots of roosting space and a soft landing for their babies when they fledge.

I took a camera up another day, and took some photos, but couldn't see Nero or any other of my ringed doves.

The barn in the distance, doves in the field, and close up with doves on the roof.

The wall cote that the farmer put up and the doves ignore, and inside, a dove searching for sticks on the sandy floor. I watched it collecting little twigs, and flying up to give them to the female in the nest.

Doves in the rafters, and one on her messy nest - sorry I couldn't get a better photo of this.

Two friends visit a nest, and another two, cosy together - this was the one where the male was collecting the sticks. I counted five nests in the barn.

Enlarge this photo by clicking on it and see how many doves you can see - there are more than you think! The second photo is a dove in my garden.

So, I'm happy that my lovely dovies have a safe home and that, at last, I know where they really do go at night.The end (you may have to scroll down for the comments section).

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The Doves at Amberley Castle

We went to Amberley Castle in West Sussex for one night for our wedding anniversary in April. My own squabs, Victory and Purity, were just flying and finding food for their own so I wasn't too worried about them. I knew from their website http://www.amberleycastle.co.uk/ that Amberley had white doves and was looking forward to seeing them. (More about our visit to Amberley with my photos on my usual blog if you are interested http://faithsdoves.blogspot.com/ Although it's called 'faith's doves' it's not my dove blog!!!

We were so fortunate to have one day of gorgeous, almost summer, weather.

The castle has been a hotel for 20 years. I don't know when the doves were introduced or when the dovecote was erected, but imagine they have been there for some while, as there were a fair number of them and they all seemed mightily at home! They do use the dovecote

But also shelter and nest in the nooks and crannies of the old castle walls. You can just see one peeking out in the photo below.

Some of these holes were the places were the original beams slotted in, see below, and make ideal nesting sites for doves. I put my arm in a lower one at the front of the castle and it went in to the elbow - that's plenty of room to make a good nest! I didn't see any squabs but knew they were somewhere around as I could hear their high-pitched squeaking.

At night, the old stone wall was studded with white pom poms, and they looked so endearing, but I just couldn't get a good photo. If you click on the picture, it should enlarge and you can see three doves in the rounded wall (turret) at the side of the portcullis.

The gardens were beautiful and, for me, the pure white doves, cooing gently and fluttering about added to the loveliness. As did the white peacock

I spoke to the lady gardener who, with one other, looks after the gardens entirely alone. She said that they feed the peacock (and the peahen who was currently kept penned up as she keeps escaping) but do not feed the doves. The doves rob a bit of food from the peafowl but otherwise find their food in the nearby fields. I wondered how they got on when we had all that snow - there wouldn't have been much natural food around then! But I suppose it keeps the numbers down, as does the sparrowhawk which the gardener said was also around.

Doves on the battlements
And on the window above the portcullis

They have a truly delightful home! This was taken early in the morning before the hotel guests were around.

The end. (double clicking should enlarge the photos)