The ‘grey grouse’ is a very fine pretender
As Professor Higgins didn’t quite bemoan in My Fair Lady, “Why can’t a grouse be more like a pigeon?”
The dear old woodpigeon may be accorded by its admirers the status of ‘grey grouse’, an accolade it surely deserves for its sporting and culinary qualities, but otherwise its lot is pretty lowly compared with the king of the gamebirds.
The pigeon and its mate are under siege throughout the year, from corvids stealing their eggs and chicks, to aerial attack from peregrine and sparrowhawk. If his natural predators don’t get him, he has to avoid battalions of pigeon shooters lurking in hedgerow, spinney and roost wood.
True entrepreneur
Despite all this, the pigeon thrives. It has adapted to change,
