Pigeon by Jan Edwards
Like many people we feed the birds in our garden and we have a resident pair of wood pigeons. Bold creatures who barely bother to flap a few feet up into the tress when you pass by. Today for example, having out some fresh supplies in the feeders I pass within feet of this cheeky bird four or five times, almost close enough to touch it. When I was growing up on the farm in Sussex pigeons my father generally saw pigeon as, at best, a tasty meal or worse as a darned nuisance. They didn't just eat the farm crops but also his precious garden veg; especially the brassicas, which, ironically, were a splendid accompaniment to pigeon pie. Not that we ate pigeon often. they are bony and fiddly to prepare and not nearly as easy to procure as rabbits or even pheasants. I can say this now, as Father is long gone, but throughout his years as shepherd and farm hand Pop was also a prodigious poacher; augmenting the low wages of a farm labourer in those times with free meals to ...