Collared doves Migrant or Resident

[Moonmoth]

Hi I have just seen the pair of Collared doves that come to my garden every year for the first time . I am some what confused as to whether they are migrant or resident .Maybe mine just go to the scillies to dabble their toes in winter and come back to London in spring ! Any answers ? Anyone

[Lance Morgan]

We have C ollared Doves all year round

[darrenm]

Collard Dove are fully resident in the UK now and will breed through the year if it is mild enough. This species has been a very rapid coloniser to the UK and since it was first found breeding in Britain on the East Coast a few decades back the species rapidly spread across the whole country and now is a very common breeding bird in the UK in urban gardens.

The Turtle Dove on the other hand is a migrant species and migrates from Africa each spring to breed but the species has undergone a massive decline in recent decades and is a rural breeding bird which favours farmland.

[earthdragon64]

We have Collared Doves all year round, despite the fact that there is 50cms of snow lying in my garden, and more falling, there were a pair of them mating today.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Collared Doves are non-migratory, but are very successful colonisers of new territory. The first birds in Britain were seen in a garden in Norfolk in 1955.

Cheers,

Adam

[artdemole]

See a whole flock of twelve on the lawn.Must have nested until late autumn last year..

[SheffSean]

We also have loads all year through, we do put out load of food to keep them coming

[RobSutton]

Originally Posted by darrenm

........... This species has been a very rapid coloniser to the UK and since it was first found breeding in Britain on the East Coast a few decades back the species rapidly spread across the whole country and now is a very common breeding bird in the UK in urban gardens.

...... .

I've seen them in the Outer Hebrides and on Orkney (not sure about Shetland) so they have done amazingly well and no longer just in urban areas.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by RobSutton

I've seen them in the Outer Hebrides and on Orkney (not sure about Shetland) so they have done amazingly well and no longer just in urban areas.

In my experience they are not particularly an urban bird- certainly not in London- but they are a common bird of the suburbs. They are still a notable sighting in the most built up central areas.

[LRM]

Where do your collared doves nest? We have a pair that nest in the Leylandii trees. They used to have young every year, 5 one year, but since the magpies moved in next door, there have been no young. There are alot of Leylandii trees, all owned by the neighbour. 40 - 60 feet tall! But there only seems to be one pair in our garden, maybe if there is another pair they stay in neighbours garden. (with the magpies) There used to be another pair in Leylandii in our garden, but when we cut it down they moved away. I have noticed collared doves near other Leylandii trees further up the road.

The wood pigeons nested in the ivy clad cherry tree till it blew down then they moved into the ivy clad silver birch. Last year a new pair nested in Leylandii with the Doves. (As I mentioned in an earlier thread 3 wood pigeons disappeared around Christmas and have never returned. One lone one sits in the birch tree.)

Do the Doves only nest in Leylandii or will they nest elsewhere, like the wood pegions?