I'm sure I'm not the only Birder who rarely looks at Woodpigeons properly during most of the year. But they are good-looking Pigeons and if they were rare, then we would probably be more impressed with them. But today I decided to take some photos of them as I saw a few posing in the trees at Durlston.
However, it is getting close to time when Woodpigeons get a brief few weeks of interest from South coast Birders as large flocks gather together before moving to the coast & at some point, heading out to sea. They will winter in Southern France & Central Spain. What is surprising is we don't see these Woodpigeons returning during the following Spring. Normally, the Woodpigeons depart at the end of Oct and early Nov. However, there were over three thousand moving over St Aldhelms on 13 Oct 24, typically in flocks of one of two hundred. It looks like the movement is starting early this Autumn.
