A Wood Pigeon! In your garden! That’s wonderful, they’re so difficult to observe around here. Great capture, Giliell!
jazzletsays
Round here they are pests, we have to protect our brassicas or they don’t get a chance to grow as the wood pigeons strip them. I admit to a spurt of satisfaction when I see a kestrel eating one.
Ice Swimmersays
The pigeon looks like an oil painting, very nice.
It looks as if it had a shark-like gill slits on the side of the neck.
lumipunasays
I admit to a spurt of satisfaction when I see a kestrel eating one.
I totally thought you meant commenter Kestrel.
jazzletsays
I did wonder if anyone would think that.
kestrelsays
LOL. No Wood Pigeons here, so I can not eat them, no worries. :-D
I wouldn’t put it past me, though.
jazzletsays
Well I did wish for a suitable gun so I could kill and eat my local ones when they destroyed our brassicas, seemed only fair. Now I just keep them off with netting so we can happily coexist. At least I’m happy, they are probably swearing at me because they can’t get at the tasty brassicas.
kestrelsays
@jazzlet, #7: I had a real problem with domestic pigeons trying to set up a colony in my (then) new barn. I had already seen the damage a colony of domestic pigeons could do to a barn, as one of the places I used to work had them. I decided to trap them. It was surprisingly easy. Now, all I did was trap out the local population. The rest soon learned to stay away, and they have to this day.
I feel your pain about the brassicas, and netting is a brilliant solution. It’s just that I can recommend trapping over shooting, having been quite successful with it.
Good for you Kestrel! I didn’t think of trapping, but the netting does it’s job as long as it’s stretched tight, so I don’t think I’ll bother. Some netting did get loose at one point and a neighbour’s cat, Ginger, got caught in it, first I knew was when the dogs started barking like crazy, so I went out to see what was up. I had to drag away the German Shepherd boy dog who really didn’t want to stop his barking at Ginger, although he wasn’t actually getting very near him (wise). Then I tried to untangle Ginger, who as soon as he was partially loose climbed up my legs (owww) into my arms where I was able to release him from the rest of the netting. To show his gratitude Ginger climbed onto my head, front claws firmly clasped in my scalp, back legs on my face just below my eyes and would not be moved. There was no one else around and I was terrified he was going to start scrabbling at my face/eyes with his back paws. I managed to walk over to the fence betwween my garden and Ginger’s home garden then bent over the fence and he decided to let go without doing any further damage. I had blood running off my the back off my scalp where he had gripped tight, as well as down my legs where he had climbed up them and was shaking with reaction. I got up to the house just as Mr Jazz came in from work to be greeted by ” Where the fuck are you when I need you?”! Bad timing on his part, but he did tend to my wounds and make me coffee. We have taken great care to ensure the netting is pulled tight since then, I don’t want to hurt any cat (or other animal) and I don’t want the cat to hurt me! I was quite lucky really because Ginger is a very soft cat, not at all aggressive and trusts humans so he didn’t actually try to hurt me, so I can laugh about it now. But for the record I recommend against wearing any cat as a hat …
Ice Swimmersays
jazzlet @ 9
That’s quite a story. I don’t know how I would have freaked out in that situation.
Sometimes us insufficiently hairy apes would benefit from being properly furry and more thick-skinned.
rqsays
Oh my dear, this one’s begging to be sketched in Renaissance robes.
A Wood Pigeon! In your garden! That’s wonderful, they’re so difficult to observe around here. Great capture, Giliell!
Round here they are pests, we have to protect our brassicas or they don’t get a chance to grow as the wood pigeons strip them. I admit to a spurt of satisfaction when I see a kestrel eating one.
The pigeon looks like an oil painting, very nice.
It looks as if it had a shark-like gill slits on the side of the neck.
I totally thought you meant commenter Kestrel.
I did wonder if anyone would think that.
LOL. No Wood Pigeons here, so I can not eat them, no worries. :-D
I wouldn’t put it past me, though.
Well I did wish for a suitable gun so I could kill and eat my local ones when they destroyed our brassicas, seemed only fair. Now I just keep them off with netting so we can happily coexist. At least I’m happy, they are probably swearing at me because they can’t get at the tasty brassicas.
@jazzlet, #7: I had a real problem with domestic pigeons trying to set up a colony in my (then) new barn. I had already seen the damage a colony of domestic pigeons could do to a barn, as one of the places I used to work had them. I decided to trap them. It was surprisingly easy. Now, all I did was trap out the local population. The rest soon learned to stay away, and they have to this day.
I feel your pain about the brassicas, and netting is a brilliant solution. It’s just that I can recommend trapping over shooting, having been quite successful with it.
And yes, I ate them… try this recipe: https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/scottish-pigeon-parcels-w-whiskey-and-honey/51493 MWAHAHAHAHA….
Good for you Kestrel! I didn’t think of trapping, but the netting does it’s job as long as it’s stretched tight, so I don’t think I’ll bother. Some netting did get loose at one point and a neighbour’s cat, Ginger, got caught in it, first I knew was when the dogs started barking like crazy, so I went out to see what was up. I had to drag away the German Shepherd boy dog who really didn’t want to stop his barking at Ginger, although he wasn’t actually getting very near him (wise). Then I tried to untangle Ginger, who as soon as he was partially loose climbed up my legs (owww) into my arms where I was able to release him from the rest of the netting. To show his gratitude Ginger climbed onto my head, front claws firmly clasped in my scalp, back legs on my face just below my eyes and would not be moved. There was no one else around and I was terrified he was going to start scrabbling at my face/eyes with his back paws. I managed to walk over to the fence betwween my garden and Ginger’s home garden then bent over the fence and he decided to let go without doing any further damage. I had blood running off my the back off my scalp where he had gripped tight, as well as down my legs where he had climbed up them and was shaking with reaction. I got up to the house just as Mr Jazz came in from work to be greeted by ” Where the fuck are you when I need you?”! Bad timing on his part, but he did tend to my wounds and make me coffee. We have taken great care to ensure the netting is pulled tight since then, I don’t want to hurt any cat (or other animal) and I don’t want the cat to hurt me! I was quite lucky really because Ginger is a very soft cat, not at all aggressive and trusts humans so he didn’t actually try to hurt me, so I can laugh about it now. But for the record I recommend against wearing any cat as a hat …
jazzlet @ 9
That’s quite a story. I don’t know how I would have freaked out in that situation.
Sometimes us insufficiently hairy apes would benefit from being properly furry and more thick-skinned.
Oh my dear, this one’s begging to be sketched in Renaissance robes.