I’m not such an ugly pigeon

Our dove cote has no doves nesting there. But we have a pair of white doves and they are in our pigeon loft.

There is a little brick shed, near the vegetable plot, where our chickens live. Amongst the rafters there is a platform, which leads through a missing brick to the outside. Here my pure white doves chose to make their nest. They laid two smooth white eggs.

At about tea time, the female dove goes in, to sit on their eggs for the night. She has feathery legs, so I can easily tell the difference. The male is rather plainer, and his job is to sit on the eggs during the day. While the female feeds with the hens in the morning, he slips over their eggs to keep them warm.

They kept up this routine for nearly three weeks, then only one baby hatched.

You would not believe how ugly the baby pigeon was, with ‘feathers all stubby and brown’. You could see its dirty pink skin and had a big dark beak. But its parents were besotted by it, and kept it warm and well fed.

There is often a van at the end of our road, I have watched while the owner gets a crate full of pigeons and releases them over the field. They fly high in the air and circle once, then head for home. These are homing pigeons which miraculously seem to have a built in sat-nav to guide them.

In war, thousands of pigeons have been used to carry messages about where action was needed. They helped save lives. Some pigeons even won the Dickin medal for bravery. The need for these pigeons was so great that the birds of prey on our southern cliffs were culled. So, returning pigeons were safe.

Our baby pigeon has grown into a beauty with ‘a snowy white back’ but can our little pristine beauties ever be useful? They do not fly far.

Well yes, the retired parents, were wedding doves, used to decorate the churchyard. Not lifesaving, but useful non-the-less.