Rock Dove (Feral Pigeon) Columba livia var. domestica
Common and widespread resident.
Feral Pigeons at Bardney in January 2015; photo courtesy of Russell Hayes.
Popularly known as the Feral Pigeon and a familiar site across our cities, towns and farmsteads. Old abandoned buildings of all kinds are favoured nesting and roosting locations. The Atlas estimated the population at 5,000 pairs in the late 1980s and the BBS index chart shows a roller coaster ride since then with an increase, then a decrease. Is it just coincidence that the decrease accelerated in 2005 just as Peregrines, Falco peregrinus, colonised and started to breed and spread in Lincolnshire? Or has the drive to develop old buildings eliminated breeding sites? The APEP4 adjusted population estimate for Lincs in 2016 was 3,700 pairs.
(Account as per new Birds of Lincolnshire (2021), included September 2022)