Ray Pigeon

Wood pigeons are ubiquitous and a bit boring but I've posted this as it was perched high up catching the rays against a beautiful blue sky. We have had a lot more rain and the sunny periods were very fleeting.

I've learnt a few facts about wood pigeons today. Unlike other birds, they use their beaks like straws. Their feathers weigh more than their skeleton does and in the southeast of England they are known as culvers.

Shakin' Stevens sung "Little Pigeon" and pigeon has often been used as a pet name for a lady love by men.

Fittingly the wood pigeon features in John Clare's The Shepherds' Calendar - January- Winter's Day

"Wood pigeons too in flocks appear
By hunger tamd from timid fear
They mid the sheep unstartld steal
And share wi them a scanty meal
Picking the green leaves want bestows
Of turnips sprouting thro the snows"