A few times a week, I put bread out on the back lawn for the birds. At one time, I mainly gave them bowls of bird seed instead, but with the cost of living crisis biting hard, paying up to £25 a month for a sack of (quality) seed has had to be postponed for now.

They like the bread well enough, and it is usually a mixture of sliced granary bread and white bread crusts. As you might expect with birds, they do have a pecking order. 🙂

First to arrive will be the large Wood Pigeons. They spend their time sitting on nearby rooftops or fences, in the hope that it will be ‘bread day’. Once the bread is flung onto the grass and I am back inside, down they come.

The blackbirds await their opportunity. Lurking under the shrubs on the left of the garden, then suddenly darting out onto the grass to grab a chunk of bread while the pigeons are occupied. They sensibly take it back to their hidey-holes, where they can eat it undisturbed.

Last to arrive are the smaller, or more timid birds. Sparrows, Wrens, Robins, Jays, and Ring-Necked Doves. They eat together peacefully, finishing up the crumbs left by any of the others.

But the big Wood Pigeons do not cooperate with each other. They apply the rule of survival of the fittest. Large battles ensue, denoted by loud flapping of wings, and the more aggressive birds actually jumping on their lesser rivals. Despite the fact that there is enough to go round, they do not desist until just the strongest bird is left, to eat his or her fill. The others have to wait, perching on the fence as the top dog (top pigeon in this case) gobbles up the easiest morsels to swallow. Only when the ‘Big man’ (or big female) had finished, do they return.

Then those lesser pigeons start the same fracas, and so on, until the weakest and most intimidated pigeon is left to share with the small birds once all the bigger birds have flown away.

I don’t think I would like to be a Wood Pigeon.