Rock Doves in Britain (1 Viewer)

[twentywell]

Rare wild ancestors of domestic pigeon found on Scottish islands

Small populations of wild rock doves discovered in places including Outer Hebrides

www.theguardian.com

Isn’t this one of those silly season stories? Hardly news as Rock Doves have been resident here since time immemorial………

 

[Mono]

The take away from the paper is most of the "Rock Doves" in the UK ain't Rock Doves any more, except in a few isolated locations.

Limited domestic introgression in a final refuge of the wild pigeon

Biological sciences; Genomics; Evolutionary biology

www.cell.com

 

[Farnboro John]

The take away from the paper is most of the "Rock Doves" in the UK ain't Rock Doves any more, except in a few isolated locations.

Limited domestic introgression in a final refuge of the wild pigeon

Biological sciences; Genomics; Evolutionary biology

www.cell.com

Even that isn't news. I wouldn't dream of writing Rock Dove in my notebook if I wasn't on the Hebs or Shetland.

John

 

[Strontium Dog]

Has anyone ever considered trapping feral pigeons and eliminating the ones that don't look like rock doves from the gene pool? Would it even be feasible?

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Has anyone ever considered trapping feral pigeons and eliminating the ones that don't look like rock doves from the gene pool? Would it even be feasible?

In Shetland this week there have been a load of racing pigeons that have been grounded for some reason. Eliminating feral pigeons when they are still effectively being imported would be a bit pointless.

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Even that isn't news. I wouldn't dream of writing Rock Dove in my notebook if I wasn't on the Hebs or Shetland.

John

Is the take home here that you can forget Shetland now and it's only the Hebrides that are relevant? Where on Shetland would they be making it into your notebook John?

 

[Farnboro John]

Is the take home here that you can forget Shetland now and it's only the Hebrides that are relevant? Where on Shetland would they be making it into your notebook John?

My rule for years has been that you need to see a flock that looks all pure or at least 95% - so no more than one wandering duffer in 20 - usually get that around Hillswick, but Lerwick is as bad as Trafalgar Square. It doesn't really matter as Feral Pigeon is a legitimate year-tick.

Go to Israel and you can see flocks of hundreds or even thousands all alike - but theirs don't have a white rump. Weird.

John