The Dove From Above

[Dominic]

This friendly dove arrived at our house first thing this morning, and seems to be making itself comfortable. It can fly, and doesn't appear to be hurt, so are we just a fab bunch of people to know, or is this normal dove behaviour? It has been here all day now.
 

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[ApusApus]

Is that a quote from Shooting Stars?


Shane

[Dominic]

coo cooo coo coo

Pigeons are two a penny.

[ApusApus]

Iranu!


Shane

[clive of payia]

If you were French, they would be worrying over which sauce to serve with Dove?

[Dominic]

Uvavu!

[ApusApus]

I won't go on to the next one for fear of a backlash!


Shane

[Dominic]

Probably best not to.

George the Dove roosted here overnight, so it looks like they may be adopting us...

[Dominic]

There are a few, but they don't venture on to the roof, and he is adept at popping up there if we encroach on his space too much.

However, we now need to establish some ground rules. Not crapping on my wife's swimming costume is rule number 1. But I have promised I won't do that again.

Here all week...

[Jim B]

We're plagued with pigeons, the mess they make is disgusting. There are so many of them that they've caused the power to trip when they landed on the overhead power cables. AIK have had to fit spacers on the cables to stop them touching and shorting out. I've spent hundreds of euro's on spikes to keep them from nesting but they still land and crap all over the place, when it rains the mess is indescribable.
Jim

[Jim B]

I have one, total waste of time and also a plastic owl that they sit next to. Apart from shooting them I've tried everything I can think of.

Jim

[Dominic]

I can vouch for the pointlessness of the plastic owls. When I sowed some grass seed last year the sparrows were very fond of the grass seed. When they weren't eating they sat on the owl I had placed to scare them off. The last winds we had blew the owl's head off. I haven't put it back on yet. My next theory will see whether a headless ghost owl spooks the sparrows.

[Rita Sherry]

O for the Wings of a Dove
Far away, far away would I rove
In the wilderness build me a nest
And remain there for ever at rest

Felix Mendelssohn 1844

Used to sing this in the School and Chapel choirs

Rita

[cyprusmax47]

I find that these bird kites are very annoying when it is windy and they are fixed at an normally quiet environment .... and so far I heard from many people, (having a PV system installed) that they are not chasing the birds away after a while. (and they are not cheap either)

Max

[Jim B]

Max
I have a PV system and they were nesting under the panels that's why I had to buy spikes to put around the edges of them plus I had to put chicken wire around the hot water panels as well. I also have house sparrows nesting under the panels as well, they're too small to be affected by the spikes.
Jim

[cyprusmax47]

The pigeons used to get, and nest, under my neighbour's PV panels too. In the end they had to stuff some kind of wad all the way round the panels to stop the birds getting in.

Very bad idea to block the air circulation of the solar panels. They are getting already very warm when mounted on a tilted roof in summer and higher temperatures are leading to much less kW/h production ( up to 10-15 % )

Max

[Dominic]

No harm in opinions, both for and against.

George is beginning to outstay his welcome. Unless he learns not to shit on the patio his food supply will be cut off.

[Yioula]

That’s the problem with feathered friends
We had a peacock that adopted us once......the mess was horrendous

[Varky]

Same problem as you Jim, but not quite to the same extent. It would appear that an air rifle is the most expedient solution, but sadly I don't have one.

Do you have to have a licence for an air rifle?

[Jim B]

Yes you need a licence. You have to get a certificate from the police to confirm you do not have a criminal record, once you have tha you then complete a form to request permission off the police to own an air rifle. Once that is signed you then take the form to the gun shop and choose the gun you want to buy. Once purchased you then take the gun back to the police and they register it against your name.
Simple;-)

Jim