Nero's in Love

8th July '09

I am so proud of myself as I have added a random slideshow of my dove photos to my blog - anything techie usually takes me ages but I accomplished this in a few minutes. Hope you enjoy it!

Having done that I realised that it is over a month since I wrote my dove blog so thought I should do an update - as much for myself as for any readers.

My two babies, Victory and Purity, are now grown-up and approx. 4 months old. Surprisingly enough they are exactly the same age as my eldest daughter's pregnancy! They are a similar size to many of the other doves visiting, but I recognise them by their coloured rings. I think that Victory may be female, but I'm not sure yet. I was hoping that Victory would be male and Purity female - suits their names better, doesn't it? Anyway, they are well and visiting regularly at least twice a day for food.

I have seen my black dove, Nero with a dark female pigeon, both at the farm where the doves roost and here at home. He has been trying to fix his interest with her for ages - he is so beautiful how can she resist? He is much blacker than the photo - I can never get one that shows off his irresistable darkness with the iridescent purple and green neck feathers.

Here they are at home, on the roof and the lawn

And here they are in a very bad photo at the roosting farm which I will now call Pig Farm in my blogs as not wanting to identify it by name, and they used to keep pigs there.I read somewhere that pigeons tend to choose mates that look similar to themselves or their parents, and Nero and his love would seem to bear that theory out - as she is a very dark grey bird with a white patch on her back like he has - but the expensive and informative book I got for my birthday - Feral Pigeons by Richard F. Johnston and Marian Janiga - tends to disagree, and says that, according to their data 'more matings occur between birds of unlike plumage, and fewer between birds of like plumage, than would be expected on the basis of chance'.

This book informs me that as these birds are monogamous (which I knew) they choose their mate carefully (if they have enough choice) on the basis of age, breeding experience, dominance status, size, feather parasite load and plumage colour and pattern

Nero appeared to choose Messalina (that's what I'm calling her!) and she seemed to resist his advances strongly for a long period of time. It seemed like he was always after her - I'm surprised either of them got anything to eat as there was only ONE THING on his mind! Male pigeons walk, run or fly after the object of their affections, never giving them any peace, and pecking them on the neck to try to bring them under control!

Oh there you are! .......eating!........................................ Well here I am! See me!

Look how gorgeous I am!................................... Hey, don't walk away!..................

Eventually, some part of his charm worked and I caught this series of photos as the sun went down.

Messalina is on the left...................................................and now Nero is, puffing out his chest in courtship


Billing.......................................................................and then Messalina starts to crouch down

Nero mounts Messalina.........................................and they copulate (cloacal union)

This takes seconds so clever of me to capture it in a photo!

Messalina on the left, starting the henpecking that always follows marriage!!!

But they will stay together, and nest building - according to the book - starts about 5-7 days after the first copulation. So soon I will take another trip down to Pig Farm to see if they have started a nest. There are currently about 4 or 5 white dove nests there, with squabs being raised.

Back to the other doves -

A flock of just under 50 ( white doves and pigeons) are currently visiting - last year at this time it was approx. 40.

I had a surprise recently - Victory (pink ring and green ring) was on the front lawn when I went through the garden on my way to the island to feed the doves. I walked through the honeysuckle arch and there in the lavenders was Victory again. 'You cheeky thing!' I said 'How did you pass me?' and then I realised that this dove, also with pink and green rings, was not Victory at all but a bigger, older dove, with the rings on the opposite legs. I checked my records and discovered that it must be Autumn. Autumn was a dove that I caught and ringed last October and haven't seen since before Christmas! Wonder where he/she has been all this time, and why he went away? Remember those deep snow days? Somehow he found food then because he definitely wasn't visiting my garden for it.

The End. (you may have to scroll down for the comments section - I still can't work out how NOT to have a huge gap!)

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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Victory and Purity 8 weeks old

Wed. 20.5.09 - In fact they will be 9 weeks old tomorrow!

This may be the last close portrait I can get of them together. Victory has the pink ring, Purity the purple.

They are still returning to the dovecote at night, but stopped sleeping in the same nest box at about 6-7 weeks.Since Silver, no other dove has invaded their territory, thank goodness.

Purity's Godmother, the blogger Elizabethd, alerted me to a lovely giveaway on her friend's blog - please do have a look at this lovely and different china http://ramblingsfromanenglishgarden.blogspot.com/

The end.

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.

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)