Local Wildlife

[Blodyn]

I'm glad your fantail survived, Rob, she's really pretty and it would be sad to think of her mate being lonely. 

[Fester]

Whilst on the subject of pigeons, a sad tale to relate today.

I was talking to a fellow kiosk owner on the pier today, when we heard a dull thud.
We went out side to find a fine looking pigeon in distress on the floor.
To me, it looked stunned, but it could not get to its feet, nor could it lift its head.
I could not figure out if it had simply crashed, or what had happened.
I was worried that it had broken its neck, plus the fact that I might be frightening it by my close proximity.

I gave it a few minutes peace to see if it would get itself sorted, but I could see it was struggling.
So, I went to grab my camera/phone to see if my good friend Merddin Emrys had a bed in his poorly pigeon's hospital.
But just as I was talking the picture (below) to send to him, the bird closed its eyes and died.  :weeping:

It was ringed with a purple plastic ring, and a green one on the other leg.
The bird didn't have the usual red looking legs either, it had pinky flesh coloured feet!

[Merddin Emrys]

  hard to say what happened unless it flew in to a window? always sad when this happens, was there a phone number on a ring at all?

we currently have 4 pigeons and 1 dove in residence, a young woodpigeon has been with us for 3 weeks now!

[Fester]

I have to confess that I didn't check for a phone number....   
It looked like it had been ringed by the council or something, does that even happen??

I have seen these colour rings on the legs of many local pigeons recently, and always wondered why.

[snowcap]

it may be a racing pigeon the number on the ring can identify it to the pigeon club , I think. it certainly looks like one

[Fester]

I'll never know now, I gave it a burial at sea!   

[1_rob_1]

It looks like a racing pigeon. As Merddin Emrys said, it could have flown into a window & broke its neck, if there was a window close.
Racing pigeons can get exhausted & disorientated whilst racing, they can become prone to "crashing" or trying to land & missing the landing place, therefore dropping to the ground.
The pigeons you see in the towns are normally "lost/tired" racing pigeons, that join the wild ones hoping for a rest & food & drink. The lost ones will probably stay, the tired ones will probably continue on their journey home after a rest.
The rings on pigeons are club/owner identification tags, they are put on the young birds when they are about 10 days old, & after another week at the most, their feet/legs have grown & the ring can then not be removed.
The rings are specific to the club which supplies them, & a different colour is used every year, so that you can tell the age of the bird at a glance  I am a member of the national tippler union. The ring colour for that club for this year is red. Looking at the ring, it has the year, the clubs initials, & the number used to register the bird to me   eg:  12 NTU 1657  All clubs use this format.

If a bird has 2 rings on, it means that the owner is a member of 2 clubs, - or 1 ring may be clipped on to a racing pigeon before a race. These are removed when the bird returns home & time stamped  to prove the bird returned at the time it did. - or one of the rings will be a plastic one that can be clipped on for quick identification.

I have seen these colour rings on the legs of many local pigeons recently, and always wondered why.

Fester:  wonder no more   

[Fester]

Hmm, then it would seem that I have done the owner a dis-service by not checking.

However, although I have had many pet birds, I love birds in general, I didn't fancy touching this dead one. 

[TheMedz]

We recently had an injured racing pigeon in the garden and rang the RSPB to find out what to do. They told us to look under it's wing where generally the phone number of the owner is tattood The RSPB person did however say that  once the owner found the pigeon was injured they may not be too interested in going to the expense of recovering the bird. Unfortunately before we had the chance to find out the local Falcon had removed the option.

[1_rob_1]

I dont know why the rspca told you that, pigeons never have phone nos. tattooed under the wing. - they dont!!! - - --  If the club printed on the ring is contacted - in my case the national tippler union (ntu) - - they will give you the owners contact details, - in most cases, the owner of the bird will tell you to keep it, or release it, (or do whatever with it) because if the bird is injured or will not return to its home, then it is worthless to the owner & is not worth the transport costs to have it returned.
Its a bit sad that competing pigeon owners think this way, but keeping them myself I understand. (but dont agree)
My birds are bred off some of the best competition birds in Europe, but even though more than capable, I dont & wont compete, because I dont agree with the stress imposed on competing birds. They are kept for my own enjoyment only.

For anyone in the know - my birds are direct descendants of the Jack Boden strain, acquired from Paul Bowden & never crossed, highly sought after birds. - For anyone not in the know, ignore this last paragraph, because it will mean nothing to you.

[hollins]

The insects love this sedum.

[hollins]

The last one came out a bit small.
This one will hopefully be better

[Jack]

Lovely photos Hollins, butterflies have had a poor year but I've seen many more in September than any other month.  First one is a Small tortoiseshell, the second a peacock and the third a comma!

[hollins]

Thanks Jack. I know nothing about butterflies so I was hoping someone would tell me what they were called.

[Blodyn]

Those are lovely photos, Hollins.  It's good to see the bees and butterflies enjoying the sedum. 

For bumblebees, late season pollen and nectar are important to help build up the new queens which will overwinter.  The poor males will be taking quite a battering in this weather as they don't return to the nest and generally shelter by clinging to flowers, like this one.  There were a couple of buff tailed males clinging to this ragwort plant yesterday evening - I don't think they'll be very happy today.     Let's hope they've already had a chance to meet some of the new queens.   

Sorry it's not a better photo - I still have only my mobile phone as a camera.