"Runnin' On".

Janet tells readers about the birds in her garden

For as long as I can remember I have been getting a womans' magazine and also it seems for the same length of time there has been a childrens' article in it about a family of Robins along with lots of other animals. What's so funny about that you say? Nothing except that these robins never fly, they walk everywhere, if it's wet or snowy they wear wellies and an overcoat. They go on their summer holidays by car to the seaside and walk to the upturned boat that each year they stay in, again walking down to the beach with their buckets and spades. To my knowledge they have never flown anywhere.

What's this got to do with this month's mutterings? Well, all summer we have been blessed with a large pair of pigeons in our garden who are defiantly an entity by the amount of billing and cooing that goes on. Throughout the summer they have been building nests, and I'm sure they haven't had time to use them all. Sometimes it is in the laylandii in any one of three places or its in one or the other of our two willows or it might be in a bay tree. This involves the pigeons in much twig finding, not just any old twig, but the correct twig, and of course this means more WALKING . Sometimes the twig is flown up to the partner to see if he/she approves and if the offering is rejected, the walking and hunting starts again. Not only this but if they feel thirsty or in need of a wash they walk up three steps to the shrubbery watering hole, where the bird bath suits them just fine.

I have never seen a baby pigeon, unlike the other young birds that are born in our trees. Pigeon parents must be very busy collecting food for their young ones, I should think they heave a sigh of relief when their offspring can forage for their own food. Maybe the bird stories in my magazine aren't as far fetched as I thought they were!

If any readers know anything about pigeons I'd be interested to hear it.

Janet Tilburn. October 04