Love Or Loath Them- I Give You the Wood Pigeon!

Okay so I know most of us aren’t a huge fan of wood pigeons- they tend to poo all over your car and everywhere you don’t want it! They steal all the food you put out for the

small song birds and have a never ending greed matched by no other species except

perhaps for rats.

They loiter in the roads and then only move out the way seconds before your car hits them and their generally considered by most as vermin. However despite all this, there is something rather comical and entertaining about the common wood pigeon. I would argue that something about this rather large dumpy looking bird that often parade around your garden, generally in pairs- is in fact quintessentially British! The word "pigeon" has a French origin and is derived from the Latin word "pipio", meaning "a peeping chick".

They can live anywhere between three to 17 years- pretty amazing for a bird! Pigeon birds can fly at great speeds- The highest speed recorded was 92.5 mph (148 kph)- they can even out fly eagles, they can also cover great distances. A male common wood pigeon is called a cock. A female common wood pigeon is called a hen and a baby is known as a squab.

While these days, they are not very popular- we should never forget that no other bird has had such close links with humans, nor been used in so many ways. Over the centuries the pigeon has served as a symbol, sacrifice, source of food and, not least, as a messenger, both sacred and secular.

And while we mostly consider pigeons to be rather stupid animals with a small brain, they are in fact, brighter than most birds- Pigeons are incredibly complex and intelligent animals. They are one of only a small number of species to pass the ‘mirror test’ – a test of self recognition. They can also recognise each letter of the human alphabet, differentiate between photographs, and even distinguish different humans within a photograph. Pigeons are also renowned for their outstanding navigational abilities.

They use a range of skills, such as using the sun as a guide and an internal ‘magnetic compass’.

And if that isn’t changing your mind about them, did you know that Pigeons mate for life, and tend to raise two chicks at the same time with both female and male pigeons sharing responsibility of caring for and raising young. Despite the social perception as dirty and disease-ridden, pigeons are actually very clean animals and there is very little evidence to suggest that they are significant transmitters of disease. So there you have it- love or loath them- I give you the wood pigeon!