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I know there are quite a few members with a soft spot for anything fluffy or furry so I thought that this story might be of interest.
A few weeks ago we found a collared dove with a very badly injured wing on the doorstep. I'd like to think it was sitting there waiting for us to let it in, but it may have just been looking at its reflection in the glass! Whatever the reason, it wouldn't come in, but eventually walked to my shed and waited for me to open the door whereupon it went in and hopped up on a box.
We felt it was probably shocked and seeking out a quiet corner to peg out but I thought my shed was not the right place for this. We had however acquired a sort of aviary along with the bungalow and this made an obvious home for our new visitor. Unfortunately while catching the bird (not hard!) to put it into a box the damaged part of the wing fell off
, luckily it seemed no worse for this abuse.
It settled down very well in its new abode, climbing up and down from the top of the woodpile to tuck into birdseed. About a week later it was anxiously pacing up and down inside the wire so I thought I ought to let it out. As it then just pecked around in the soil, it suddenly dawned on me that seed-eating birds also need grit. With this deficiency in its diet remedied, it allowed us to herd it back home again.
Another two weeks passed and I began to feel uneasy about keeping it shut up (having initially expected it to pass away the first night ) so I thought I'd leave the aviary door open to give it a free choice. Unfortunately what actually happened was that our sweet cat seized her opportunity, literally
. We found a trail of feathers all the way from the seed dish, round the lawn, then leading to the pond, with cat sitting on the edge looking both guilty and disappointed and the dove hunched up on the lily leaves in the middle.
I picked it up and returned it to its hut, once again expecting that night to be its last, worst we were going away the next day for some weeks. Unbelievably it was still pertly eyeing us up the next morning with no apparent fear or resentment so we topped up the feeding dishes and arranged for son to call in to visit.
On finally returning home rather late in the evening, I put my head round the door; it greeted me by raising what remained of its wing as it to say 'it's better now'. The next morning when Mrs CH went in to replenish the dishes, it flew out over her head. It sat on the lawn and looked at us for a few minutes, then flapped up on the shed where it paced up and down, presumably to get its bearings, then took off and disappeared over the hedge in a sort of parabolic curving flight.
I'd like to be able say that it returns regularly to coo it gratitude to us for saving its life but of course its now a wild creature again. It has occasionally come back to the garden with its mates, it's quite distinguisable as it has to flap its wings twice as fast as the others to keep up with them, (being as its only got half a left wing
)but it has given me great pleasure to have bestowed a further lease of life onto it; a kind of karma repayment
'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger'
A few weeks ago we found a collared dove with a very badly injured wing on the doorstep. I'd like to think it was sitting there waiting for us to let it in, but it may have just been looking at its reflection in the glass! Whatever the reason, it wouldn't come in, but eventually walked to my shed and waited for me to open the door whereupon it went in and hopped up on a box.
We felt it was probably shocked and seeking out a quiet corner to peg out but I thought my shed was not the right place for this. We had however acquired a sort of aviary along with the bungalow and this made an obvious home for our new visitor. Unfortunately while catching the bird (not hard!) to put it into a box the damaged part of the wing fell off
, luckily it seemed no worse for this abuse.It settled down very well in its new abode, climbing up and down from the top of the woodpile to tuck into birdseed. About a week later it was anxiously pacing up and down inside the wire so I thought I ought to let it out. As it then just pecked around in the soil, it suddenly dawned on me that seed-eating birds also need grit. With this deficiency in its diet remedied, it allowed us to herd it back home again.
Another two weeks passed and I began to feel uneasy about keeping it shut up (having initially expected it to pass away the first night ) so I thought I'd leave the aviary door open to give it a free choice. Unfortunately what actually happened was that our sweet cat seized her opportunity, literally
. We found a trail of feathers all the way from the seed dish, round the lawn, then leading to the pond, with cat sitting on the edge looking both guilty and disappointed and the dove hunched up on the lily leaves in the middle.I picked it up and returned it to its hut, once again expecting that night to be its last, worst we were going away the next day for some weeks. Unbelievably it was still pertly eyeing us up the next morning with no apparent fear or resentment so we topped up the feeding dishes and arranged for son to call in to visit.
On finally returning home rather late in the evening, I put my head round the door; it greeted me by raising what remained of its wing as it to say 'it's better now'. The next morning when Mrs CH went in to replenish the dishes, it flew out over her head. It sat on the lawn and looked at us for a few minutes, then flapped up on the shed where it paced up and down, presumably to get its bearings, then took off and disappeared over the hedge in a sort of parabolic curving flight.
I'd like to be able say that it returns regularly to coo it gratitude to us for saving its life but of course its now a wild creature again. It has occasionally come back to the garden with its mates, it's quite distinguisable as it has to flap its wings twice as fast as the others to keep up with them, (being as its only got half a left wing
)but it has given me great pleasure to have bestowed a further lease of life onto it; a kind of karma repayment'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger'
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