Ebb & Flo

Meet the pigeons, Ebb and Flo

They drop in daily, don't you know

And every day I wave and 'shoo'

For drop(p)in(gs) mainly what they do!

Drop in' is an apt description of these two entertaining, but irritating birds, as they literally plummet down onto the garden (and usually onto my precious plants) with a lot of noisy wing flapping. Then, once they've eventually gained a little balance, the game is to find where I've hidden the bird food. Do pigeons have bad eyesight or are they just acting stupid in order to entertain us? I ask this because they insist on searching around the area where the food 'was' but isn't any longer, because I moved it the previous day, then sit on the fence looking miserable, just inches from its new position. I have to keep moving the food from time to time for the sake of the small birds, as this greedy pair would devour it all in one se

ssion, nuts, fat, whatever we put out. The fat had to go, as their table manners left a bit to be

desired. They are not tidy eaters - the surrounding area was decorated with globs of the stuff. After yesterday's visit, when one of them (I have to admit, I can't tell the difference between them) 'fell' from the fence above, and with some considerable skill for a heavyweight, eventually gained its balance on the top of a rather delicate acer. Very springy it was too but, with some determination, once the movement had settled down, the bird set too devouring the contents of the overhanging bird feeder. So that explained the broken stems, and the bird feeder had to be moved to prevent further damage to the acer.

Their other occupation is to play chicken on the road outside our house. Sitting on top of the hedge waiting for a car to approach, they drop down onto the road, where they wobble along slowly, defying the driver to slow down, followed by a clumsy take-off, with more flapping at windscreen level, before returning to the hedge. Our late cat Emma used to play a similar game (not the result of the 'late'). As we approached our drive, she'd emerge from the hedge and walk, tail aloft, very slowly in front of our car and on down our drive, forcing us to down wait until she was safely out of the way. The bird feeder could go back to its original position, as I'm sure it will be a day or two before they realise it. In the meantime, the small birds seem to be able to find it straight away wherever it is. Despite the disadvantages (such as their droppings) this devoted pair (cooing away on the roof, as I write) are certainly keeping us amused, and my 'shooing' doesn't seem to deter them for long.