Saturday 22 August 2015

Wildlife Visitors Beware!

From Tony Thain:

About a week ago I noticed a new pigeon appear, hanging around the house. It was ringed, so was obviously a lost homing pigeon as it was not so sharp as our small flock of feral pigeons and quite friendly. So I gave it food - bird seed - in the hope that it would recover and continue its flight.

A few days later, I had only just finished mowing the lawn and was settling down for a welcome cup of tea when I noticed that someone had emptied a feather duvet all over my pristine lawn. Somewhere Boadicea the Sparrowhawk - a frequent visitor to the Old Dairy - had dropped in for lunch.

Yesterday, while trimming the hedges I found the body of a pigeon neatly deposited on one of the hedges, and yes, it was the tourist pigeon that I had been feeding. The rings were removed and the Royal Racing Pigeon Society was notified of the ring numbers. They replied, telling me that the bird was from a loft in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, and that the owner had been notified of the demise of his bird.

The pictures are from my archives as Boadicea spotted me stalking her with a camera and legged it before I could get in range, taking her dinner with her.

Many thanks to Tony for pictures and story.

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