Collared, rather than Cerebral, Doves

Well my dear readers (whoever you may be, maybe I should only address you in the singular) adventures in running and wildlife have been scuppered by weather. And my awful job. Although in the warehouse I've seen Pied Wagtails on a few occasions trotting along the floor amidst the spare parts. How they are getting in, who knows. You can't smuggle a malterser out...

Did have a midshift run along london road lake a couple of nights ago, but it was chucking it down so nothing much to see apart from streams of dirty water cascading off my forehead. I had planned to do my RSPB hour of wildlife watching today after a run, but again it has been bucketing down. Looking out the window even the sparrows had shut and decided to stay in and quietly watch Morse.

All this rain reminds me of Collared Doves - the fact that this is the sort of weather that their nests seem to get invariably washed away in. Which may be why I haven't seen so many of them around this year. Normally near my folks house somewhere, there would be at least one pair of these elegant but not terribly bright birds nesting in the middle of someone's guttering. There they would be, all settled in, when the first heavy rain of spring would cause a huge dam of water to form on the edge of the roof, heavily splattering anyone putting the bins out, before in an avian disaster movie scenario the nest would give way and splatter sticks, twigs and eggs in front of someone's door.

Last year, in mum's garden, they more sensibly picked a silver birch tree to reside in. Only, the nest was in a fork of bough allowing a nest with an approximate load bearing area about the size about a 50p coin to be built. If the bird was laying M and Ms they might have had a chance, but as it happened the bird looked comically oversized sitting on a flimsy bundle of kindling. Eventually the thing ended up tilted to one side like a frenchman's beret and even the dove least likely to  win bird brain of britain gave it up as a bad job.

This year, not seen so many Collared Doves about. Perhaps they are getting fed up with all the coverage the Turtle Dove is getting these days and have gone on strike. In any event, in their tilting, precarious flood causing nests, I wish them well.