At the bottom of the garden, there is a wisteria-laden archway (marked) leading to the kitchen garden ...
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| Photo 1: Wisteria Arch marking the entrance to the Kitchen Garden |
For a few weeks I have heard a gentle cooing coming from the wisteria with the occasional rapid exit of a wood pigeon when passing through the archway leading to the Kitchen Garden. A pair of wood pigeons had tried, unsuccessfully, to nest in our winter-flowering cherry last year. This year they paid regular visits to the flowering cherry tree but only (with hindsight) to collect twigs to build their very rudimentary nest in the wisteria.
On exiting the kitchen garden today (22nd July), I noticed a motionless wood pigeon sitting on a nest no more than a foot above my head.
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| Photo 2: Wood Pigeon Nesting in the Wisteria |
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| Photo 3: Wood Pigeon on its Nest |
Pigeons are slow and, outwardly, rather stupid so are easy meat for predators like the sparrowhawk and peregrine falcon. As one pigeon leaves this world, possibly several new ones enter!
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Exactly the same here. My yard backs onto a Cadent works/car park with very tall confiers on the far boundary. I have a largish pond and the pigeons which inhabit the works and nest in the conifers frequently hop over my wall or fly in for a drink. Just today I discovered a nest in my Wisteria arch with a pigeon sitting on two white eggs. The male pigeon is hanging around and seems quite supportive of the female on the nest. I did disturb them when trying to get a closer look but she came swiftly back. They seem quite unphased by my usual pottering out there underneath them. I have no cats or dog so this prob encouraged them. I've been told to leave them alone and see it as a sign of good luck. Despite my reservations abiut the mess. Look forward to nature taking its ciurse. On that subject, very strange a mature pigeon landed on my pond fountain to drink and seemed to stay there a very long time. The next day I found it belly up dead in the flowers directly above the fountain. So I'm having both ends of the Life Cycle here in 2025, birth and death. Which for a 71 year old I find both depressing and hopeful. Aaaaargh!
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