Turtle Dove
Apologies for my ignorance on this: have Turtle Doves been released into the wild at Cove (about 8 miles south-west from Chipstable, as the dove flies)?
If so, that certainly seems a likely candidate for supplying Chipstable and Five Bells with the beauties, on the same day as each other; one week to the day after release?
They could well be, as release was last Wednesday & second is c.15 miles from there, whilst first is half that. However, I’m struggling to find anything about numbers - someone has told me there were 42 white storks…
Could the Turtle Doves possibly be from the recent Cove Valley rewilding release project near Tiverton?
This morning at about 9 am a turtle dove perched on my garage roof at Five Bells. It did not stay there very long and flew off in an easterly direction towards Williton.
I hesitate to post this because it sounds so far-fetched but I have just been listening to a Turtle Dove for about half-an-hour in Chipstable. I failed to get a good view, my creeping up below its perch high in an Ash tree eventually leading it to stop singing and take flight, sadly. But for what it’s worth. Turtle Dove, Chipstable.
Unless, of course, anyone can point me to some other possibility. Do Woodpigeons have aberrant songs? (I used to live in the South-east, and Turtle Dove was the sound of summer in my childhood…)
What is it doing here? Singing on migration?