The Wood Pigeons are always around. Sometimes noisy and sometimes messy, they also can be very entertaining, especially when trying to reach berries on the end of Cotoneaster branches which are just not strong enough to support them. It is the only bird I know which regularly falls out of its tree!

Photograph (right) July 2006.

I think the bird on the left is a juvenile, lacking the yellow bill and eye ring and also the white and green neck bands. It also seems generally a little more fluffy.

Photograph (left) October 2002

And what do you make of the pair below? The one on the left seemed to be receiving foraging lessons from the larger bird which itself has only the beginnings of a white collar.

Photograph (right) - August 2003

All pictures will enlarge.

The courtship behaviour of the woodpigeons seems to get more energetic every year. The pair pictured below were taking a short break from their exertions.

How are you at reading Woodpigeon body language?!

Photographs (above) - April 2004

We are used to these heavy birds landing on the flat roof and giving the feeder pole a good shake when they take off from the bird table, but I physically jumped when one attempted a forced entry through a closed window one morning. I don't know where it had been, but the print it left behind shows a level of anatomical detail that none of my photos will ever capture! Click on the picture to enlarge.

Photograph (right) - August 2005

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