The Collared Dove is a large and beautiful wild bird. They visit our garden so often that they seem to be the only bird in the area! There are some small birds about though, as I can hear them but there aren't many though, like in my youth. Of course it's the mating season for the Collared Dove and don't we know it! The monotonous noise they make drives us mad here. I know they have to mark their territory but my goodness they do this much longer and louder than ever in the past, to my certain knowledge. And it is for most of the year here!
I would love to have the right to engage a man with a bird of prey to cull them OR to make them settle away from our houses where they sit on the roof to make their confounded racket. It is first thing in the morning, all day on and off, and in the evening too. It is a noise nuisance and if it was a factory making all that noise we would be able to campaign to get it stopped. We have asked for help from the local Council and they do not consider it to be their control policy. The birds of prey are not seen here. Years ago they would do the job for us, but now we are lumbered with far too many Collared Doves. Ok, so we drop food from fast food outlets and they swoop down on it, well, so do the gulls that we have here yet they do not make all that penetrating noise. We are quite serious about this. We should be allowed to make a case for them to be controlled.
Hi peacelover - erm.......I've just said hello to you on your hello thread, LOL Is your forum name because you love the quiet or you are a peace lover - why then would you want to annihilate the collard doves?. They are beautiful birds in my opinion. We get collard doves too, can have up to 40 in my garden in one day and are seen most of the day perched on ours and neighbouring trees - As much as they drive me mad at times, it wouldn't sit well with me to see them harmed.
Sorry I'm not much help in advising how you can get rid of them as a lover of all animals I don't actually totally agree with culling animals because they are a noise problem. If they were causing harm or being aggressive then it would be another issue.
This is only my opinion and it is not meant to offend you. :-)
As I had 13 in the garden yesterday, I can speak here I feel...
I can see your point, they are rather noisy at times. But I think wanted them culled is a bit much really, its just that the noise they make may not be as beautiful as a Blackbird singing - which by the way can get really annoying when it starts at 4am, or when they're making that clucking/squawking sound for half an hour straight at dusk.
Out of curiosity how many doves are there?
I'd sooner have the doves than the gulls!
I'm afraid I'm with Kezmo and Paul on this. I don't get many collared doves, so they aren't a problem in my garden, but if you had a large flock of starlings as I do, you would really know what noise is!! I couldn't agree to the culling of any animal simply because of noise. Except perhaps my neighbour, who has loud gatherings in his garden on sunny afternoons.
Hello again,
Yes Kezmo, my name here means that I really do love peace and quiet. Sorry, but I am not happy with the situation here regarding Collared Doves. Annihilation is not what I would campaign for, which is a total cull. No. What I would ask for is a controlling measure and to my thinking that would be a thinning out as there are far too many of these big noisy creatures here. We have suffered many years with them and it has come to this that I ask on the RSPB Forum for advice on this annoying problem. Btw, no offence taken.
Hi to Paul E. We love to hear the blackbird at any time! Their song is so varied you see. It is beautiful all the time to us. We rarely see them here though, but we do have experience of the early dawn blackbird songs. Other noises they make are tolerated as they do not last as long as the perpetual call of the Collared Dove. We have at least three dozen of them. We walk to the play park and see them on the ground and in the trees. The gulls here are few but they are in no way a nuisance. It is a wonder why they seem to be under control yet the very noisy Collared Doves are allowed to keep their numbers high...erm...
You could always buy some earplugs :o))).
Collared Doves drive me mad with their calls too but culling them wouldn't necessarily give you a quiet life anyway, so a rather selfish and silly post.
Just my opinion.
Hi Peacelover
I can understand you coming to a RSPB forum to try to find the best way to resolve your problem. The main problem is when you start talking about killing wildlife to people who have a great love for all these things.
I am sure that it was not your intention to upset anyone but to try to seek advice.
I can only offer my advice which is that I always find wildlife will only stay in a given area if there is a food source. Once this stops they move on.
The problem being there may be a lot of people in your area that don't feel the same way as you do and have as much right to feed the birds.
You state that you don't mind blackbirds etc but in nature we have no way of just picking those ones we want.
So my only advice is to talk to people in your area and if they all feel the same as you do, remove the food source, but just remember that all the other birds will also leave.
Robert
Good morning.what a shame you feel like that..
As already suggested...the only thing that may work is not to feed at all......
It is breeding season though and it would be quite difficult to stop birds visiting any garden unless you have loads of cats.they will be looking for food anywhere they can.....
You mentioned Gulls......we have loads of Gulls here and I think they actually drowned any other bird noises.they screach and scream when they are grabbing offal etc.....I hope things calm down soon.......
I'm a bit depressed by the theme of this thread. Wildlife can be noisy (Rookery next door anyone?) but does this mean that we should seek to wipe-out local populations? I can hear Collared Doves through my open window right now (they're currently competing with some Goldfinches for top songster slot) but, so what?
General licences (with stringent conditions) exist to control certain species where they pose a threat to health, safety or livelihoods but, by no stretch of the imagination, is that the case here.
See http://naturalengland.etraderstores.com/NaturalEnglandShop/UserFiles/Files/tan_13.pdf
Maybe the answer is Bose noise cancelling headphones - peace and quiet guaranteed.......
Hi everyone,
Ok, you are all quite correct in your views on this, and I really should not have expected any support at all. Thank you, though, for your comments. I myself will not be killing any Collared Doves, of course I won't. Birds of prey should be here doing that for us. Nature with nature. It's seen as barbaric when humans get involved.
I've been applying earplugs and ear defenders, together, and you know, you can still hear the little devils as their calls are designed to not be unheard. The tone and pitch is well suited for long range broadcast. It is a shame that we have to put up with all that noise just because these birds are doing what they do to keep their ground as it were. It is a bliss when they stop!
I cannot for one moment understand why, by nature, these birds need to call in this way just to make it known that they have young nearby. Why do they fear so much of a threat? I honestly cannot see that this is the reason that they call so much, from one spot, on a house roof. It is more likely to be the fact that the dear old lady across the road from us is known to put out big chunks of bread for all birds, if they can handle it, and of course the Collared Doves can. And, of course, it is her right to feed birds if she wants to.
So then, that's it folks, that's my stint over and done with. I will continue to enjoy the rest of the natural sounds around us here, and keep in mind that Collared Doves must be a paranoid and hungry lot. I wonder why this bird is not seen as food for humans - ???? ERM...Take-Away!
Bye everyone,
Peacelover
I wasn't going to reply to this but hey...........food for humans....
I think a little uncalled for.....and deffinatly not amuseing....and if you think these beauties make a noise .have you never heard magpies......or mistle thrush's when they are warning the family..and what about sea gulls.....anyway......shame you have that view.....about this 1 bird.when many more do the same to alert their young...
enough said.
...
Peacelover said: Hi everyone, Ok, you are all quite correct in your views on this, and I really should not have expected any support at all. Thank you, though, for your comments. I myself will not be killing any Collared Doves, of course I won't. Birds of prey should be here doing that for us. Nature with nature. It's seen as barbaric when humans get involved. I've been applying earplugs and ear defenders, together, and you know, you can still hear the little devils as their calls are designed to not be unheard. The tone and pitch is well suited for long range broadcast. It is a shame that we have to put up with all that noise just because these birds are doing what they do to keep their ground as it were. It is a bliss when they stop! I cannot for one moment understand why, by nature, these birds need to call in this way just to make it known that they have young nearby. Why do they fear so much of a threat? I honestly cannot see that this is the reason that they call so much, from one spot, on a house roof. It is more likely to be the fact that the dear old lady across the road from us is known to put out big chunks of bread for all birds, if they can handle it, and of course the Collared Doves can. And, of course, it is her right to feed birds if she wants to. So then, that's it folks, that's my stint over and done with. I will continue to enjoy the rest of the natural sounds around us here, and keep in mind that Collared Doves must be a paranoid and hungry lot. I wonder why this bird is not seen as food for humans - ???? ERM...Take-Away! Bye everyone, Peacelover