I wrote recently about the culling of the feral Pigeon which are traditionally housed in Pigeonnaires on farms or country houses to provide cheap food.
Well today while I was mixing up the mortar for the work my attention was drawn to a massive high flying flock of Pigeons (Palombe) heading in a North East direction.
The noise from the wing beats was quite substantial and it got me wondering if this was a sign that Spring is going to be early this year?
Every Autumn, wild Pigeon migrates from the Scandinavian and Russian countries and the UK (although most UK birds tend tend over winter there ) they then fly diagonally across France and over the Pyranees to winter feeding grounds in Spain or even North Africa.
Unfortunately for the tired and hungry birds there are lots and lots of hunters who are eagerly awaiting their journey and Polombiers, which are manned throughout daylight hours are set up to shoot these birds.
We have a Polombier within a mile from Jean Blanc hidden in a large wood. It is like a great big prison camp with huge watch towers and elaborate decoy stations to try and trick the birds into stopping for a rest. You can see in the picture the cradle that a live Pigeon would be clipped into. It is a practise long since outlawed in the UK and I think only a matter of time before it is handed the same fate here.
When the Pigeons get to the Pyrenees they directed by skilled hunters into channels and passages who know, when they imitate a hunting falcon, that the the exhausted birds will dive and fly just feet above the mountains. They will then be netted or shot as they become vulnerable and exposed.
So as the Pigeons were flying back towards the summer feeding grounds in early January one might assume an early Spring? It has been a balmy 16 degrees here today with some pleasant sunshine so maybe el nino is working its magic?
