Monday 22nd September 2025, 5.15pm (day 5,142)
“Who’s this guy then?”
“No idea. Another tourist with a thing for pigeons I suppose. Like London’s the only place that has them.”
“Pervert. Perhaps if I scowl at him he’ll go away.”
Pigeon parade
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: pigeons
Pigeon mobilisation
Friday 7th March 2025, 3.00pm (day 4,943)
Whatever it is that pigeons do to communicate the information that it is time for a collective take-off, they do it well enough, and quite frequently, too. They will then fly around for a couple of circuits, come back to land (or roof) again, and wait a few minutes before doing it all again. Perhaps it’s just training.
Pigeon patrol
Wednesday 5th February 2025, 9.25am (day 4,913)
My first Hebden Bridge picture in one whole month. It doesn’t seem like the pigeons have changed their behaviour much since I’ve been away: still the group callisthenics, tight circles around a carefully-chosen patch of town. They look impressive enough in black-and-white. Except for the one who’s broken formation, to the lower left.
Bob does his exercises
Wednesday 9th October 2024, 3.50pm (day 4,794)
In training for the ongoing Pigeon-Duck Conflict (depicted several times on here), Bob completes his latest bout of callisthenics with close supervision from the sergeant-majors. He’ll soon be ready for action down at the marina, where it’s rumoured there are also geese about, so he needs to work on those reaction times.
By the old bridge
Wednesday 4th September 2024, 10.30am (day 4,759)
Another picture of someone sitting down, though she looks a little more comfortable than yesterday’s model (and has both her shoes on). Meanwhile, over on the other side of the bridge, there are interventions taking place in the ongoing duck-pigeon conflict,
Duck-pigeon War: new developments (with optional postscript)
Wednesday 17th May 2023, 2.55pm (day 4,283)
“Ssshhh. They’re asleep, I think. We can sneak in….”
“I feel scared. The water….”
POSTSCRIPT (feel free to ignore): You should have had a picture from London today. Specifically, I was going to go inside the Houses of Parliament for the first time in my life. However, thanks to an exquisitely timed cancelled train today — eradicated 10 minutes too late for me to get an earlier one — I couldn’t make it to King’s Cross in time for the event. So there was no point going. So Northern fuck up my day, and I get to just suck it up.
Beneath the drop zone
Sunday 18th December 2022, 4.05pm (day 4,133)
It is known that birds are relatively intelligent creatures for their size, so as I crawl through this null time before Christmas, trying not to think about work, questions come to mind, such as — do they deliberately crap on people’s heads, or is it all an accident? This old metalwork crosses over a street in Hebden as it links two buildings, and whatever it once was, it is now prime pigeon perch; and always worth a look upwards, before any attempt to pass beneath it.
Staying above it all
Saturday 1st October 2022, 11.05am (day 4,055)
A pigeon food-fight, a moshpit of grain consumption, of a kind that must say something about how evolution will progress for this species, though what that is, we don’t yet know. The one in the middle seems to be staying above it all, however. But probably he’s just taking a quick breather.
Reluctant to fly
Friday 5th August 2022, 3.35pm (day 3,998)
This pigeon nest has been under observation for a couple of days now, seeing as it resides just above the outdoor seating area in the pub, and for the duration, this fledgling has been receiving plenty of encouragement to leave it. Every so often it comes out, slithers around on the roof tile (some seven feet above the ground) for a while, cheeps in an alarmed fashion, then goes back inside. Mum, or possibly Dad, seems to be getting rather fed up with the whole thing. I can’t say I blame it. My one was off like a shot, first chance he got.
The flock works out
Wednesday 27th October 2021, 11.30am (day 3,716)
The community of pigeons that live in Hebden Bridge town centre sometimes act as one, particularly when it comes to their group callisthenics. They take off en masse, circle round for a while, then all land again. This flock was so large that here you see both the ones nearby, and those in the distance, already further round the circuit. Military exercises spring to mind — the ducks must be worried.
Being 42 