Collared Dove
To any birdwatchers
under 40 it is probably difficult to conceive that collared doves once
set twitchers racing across the countryside. I recall the first collared
doves I saw were on Romney Marsh in 1961 - a long cycle ride from London
where I lived at the time. The spread of the collared dove across Europe
is well documented. Originally found in western Asia, in 1932 they were
only as far west as Hungary. But presumably at some point in the past
a new genotype had arosin that was better adapted to the man-made environments
of farmlands and suburbia, and hence was able to carry out this rapid
spread westwards. Halting only briefly at the Channel, it crossed into
England in 1955, and has now become a very common and widespread resident.
 In
the summer of 2001 I had a first - feeding on spilled grain 20 yards from
our garden gate I saw a mixed flock with every species of British dove:
Turtledove, stock dove, rock dove, wood pigeon and collared dove. Strangely
the latter is the rarest, only occasionally turning up in our garden.
Rock doves (a.k.a feral pigeons) don't breed, but are common enough whenever
spilled grain is spotted, and two pairs of turtledove bred in our hedges,
while stock doves breed in the old woodland around our garden. Wood pigeon,
while not exactly at pest proportions, are certainly abundant.
left
- Collared Dove with Turtle Dove for comparison
The collared dove
is usually found within striking distance of human habitations - it is
a true commensal, like the house sparrow. According to Chris Mead's superb
book "the state of the nations' birds", in 1977 less than fifteen
years after colonizing, there were already possibly 25 000 breeding pairs
in the British Isles. There are now reckoned to be 200 000 pairs in Britain
and another 30 000 in Ireland.
By John A Burton
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Copyright Information
- Illustrations
by Dave Nurney from - The Pocket Guide to the Birds Of Britain
and North-West Europe By Chris Kightley and Steve Madge ©
Pica Press and reproduced with kind permission.
- Other material:
© Birds Of Britain
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