Tess Rescues Dove
Our first autumn here we noticed new visitors to our patio bird feeder. They were a pair of small, powder grey doves with fine dark collars around their necks. At first we thought these beautiful birds were young wood pigeons, but later learned that they were collared doves.

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Tess does not bother the birds on the feeder very much, occasionally she scatters them, but usually she just watches quietly as they peck away.
One day we saw a dove fluttering about, dragging one of its wings. As it appeared to be injured we tried to catch it, but it managed to fly into the trees, where it disappeared.
Late that evening Tess went out into the garden to do her usual business before going to sleep, and we left the back door open for her. Suddenly she came rushing into the house, heading straight for her bed - carrying the dove in her mouth. We were terrified that she had killed the bird, or seriously injured it, but it was alive, and we put it in a box, gave it food and water and left it there until morning.
The poor injured bird must have been looking for food around the feeder when it was caught unawares by Tess.
The following morning the bird looked quite lively, it had eaten some seed, and we took it to Hessilhead Wildlife Sanctuary - where a vet examined it. To our great relief she declared it quite unharmed - except for the broken wing. It was treated at the sanctuary and later returned to the wild. A happy ending for everyone.

Collared doves are now among the regulars at our bird feeder and last year (2001) we rescued a baby dove, this time from our neighbours cat. They seem to regard it their right to find food there - and will fly against the glass patio door and tap it softly with a wing if they feel we have been neglecting our duties.

A grey squirrel on our patio. We like these cute little
visitors and feed them peanuts. A family of squirrels lives in a big yew tree, just outside our garden.