As if from nowhere

After a lean spell, Peter Theobald can't believe his luck when the pigeons return unexpectedly to his patch, and in satisfyingly large numbers

- Peter Theobald

I mentioned last month the importance of constant reconnaissance on all the rape fields on your permissions. In my case, it was to see if the pigeons had returned to my area – they had been absent for the past four months. Usually, it is to check what part of the fields the birds favoured and see if the winter flocks have started to break up into smaller, more decoy-friendly bunches.

Fed up with glassing empty fields, I had for a few weeks neglected to check the one farm that is growing rape. I reluctantly decided to give it another look, just in case. Pulling into a gateway that allowed me to survey most of the fields, I immediately noticed a few birds leaving a small holding wood to drop confidently on the other side of a thick hedge. “This is encouraging; I wonder how many more there are on the deck?” I thought to myself. On cue, a walker came into view down the track and 500 pigeons exploded into the air, dispersing over the road into the main roost wood. Time to investigate.

Revelation