Pigeon Meal

The reddening of the berries on Rowan coincides with the arrival of wood pigeons. They are very effective harvesters of bilberries too, much more so than the blackbirds and thrushes who usually precede them onto the moor.

Anyone thinking of gathering bilberries for a pie is advised to hurry. Once these birds get busy there can be very few left for anyone else. I've often longed for a 'dial-a-peregine service' when redcurrants are ripening in my garden.

Here in Blacka's woods at least one of the pigeons has itself become a meal, probably for a local sparrow hawk.

This is a typical site for the hawk to deal with its prey, a moss covered tree stump in a secluded clearing.