We went down to the allotment in the afternoon. The morning had been quite sunny but the afternoon didn't look too promising. We set off in some nice sunshine but before we arrived at the plot a heavy shower led us to wonder if our trip might be a wasted journey.
Our jobs for the afternoon provided it stayed fine were to sow a couple of rows of peas and finish planting our left-over onion sets. We made a bit of a start when another shower arrived so we decided on a cup of coffee whilst we sheltered from the rain in the shed. Half way through my cup of coffee I spotted a wood pigeon in our Oullins Gage plum tree. I could see it was eating something but couldn't really tell what. We thought it might be eating any insects it could find amongst the foliage but then again it’s a wood pigeon so it couldn't possibly be doing anything useful could it.
There was only one way to make sure so the camera came out and the zoom lens put into action. Watching on the small screen I thought it looked to be eating the immature fruitlets rather than insects or even green leaves, after all they're happy to devastate any brassica crop left un-netted.
Looking at the picture above there is no doubt it was working its way around the tree eating any immature fruits it could find. If you're not sure from the picture above check out the video below.
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Oh how completely annoying, I hope he didn't get too many of them. I put in the last of my onion sets the other day - I'm hoping I'll get some little onions from them as you and Sue have suggested. They're planted close together and quite late, but if I get a small crop I'll be happy, I can always use onions.
ReplyDeleteI think those onions should have plenty of time to produce a decent crop.
DeletePigeons can certainly be a nuisance. They seem to travel in pairs which makes it worse. I've two that lurk around the garden daily but I haven't caught them in the act yet.
ReplyDeleteThe one in the video had an accomplice in the plum tree. They must feel safer going around in pairs.
DeleteThey can be very annoying. I have the same flock visiting my garden everyday. There is a total of 10! I wouldn't mind but they eat everything, leaving not a crumb for any of the smaller birds. These 10 Pigeons wait on the edge of the roof above the back door. As soon as any food is thrown down they are on it! lol
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