It's a dog-eat-dog world

Wildlife will do whatever it takes to survive

- Val Bourne

I DON’T lead a very exciting life in Cold Aston in the Cotswolds and I don’t mind one bit! I’m either working, cooking or gardening, and I spend a lot of time watching insects and birds as well. For many a year we have had three annoying pigeons: Stumpy with a damaged leg; Droopy Wing that has a wing that trails on the ground; and Fatso – well, that describes him or her perfectly. They perch on my box balls and chase off the blackbirds.

Earlier this year, one of them came to grief when a sparrowhawk paid us a visit. I didn’t see it happen, as such attacks are lightning quick, but I do know that it happened at dusk. When I got up the following morning, there were lots of feathers, two wings and a bitten-off head. The sparrowhawk had plucked the feathers, eaten the breast and discarded the rest. Later that day I noticed two large holes in the garden, about 1ft (30cm) deep, and it certainly wasn’t my ginger cat Frank. He does dig, for obvious reasons, but makes shallow scrapes. Enough said.