Taking stock

Stock Dove (Columba oenas)

In the latter part of the spring, we moved a couple of our seed feeders from their former position outside the office windows to a new spot in the John Downie crabapple visible from our kitchen window, somewhat further away from the house. A few of our more wary visitors – Jackdaws and Common Pheasants among them – were delighted. And it wasn't long before we spotted a new addition to our "IN the yard" list: a pair of Stock Doves. These quickly became regular visitors, and they've continued to frequent the short-grass areas of the garden even after the seed feeders were retired for the summer. Though similar in size and colouration to the feral Rock Dove (i.e. the feral pigeon), they can be distinguished by their dark eyes, their red and yellow bills, and their lack of a pale rump patch. Typically found along woodland edges and in parkland during the breeding season across much of the UK, they're only rarely seen in gardens. In the winter, they regularly gather in small flocks in farmland. Unusually for pigeons, they're cavity nesters. They regularly use holes in trees, but will also use cracks in cliffs (or ruins), thick poplar hedges or ivy, or even rabbit warrens. Stock Doves are currently classed as "amber" (i.e. moderately threatened) on the UK's list of birds of conservation concern, so it's a real treat to add them to our list.