I REMEMBER in 1953 when a friend of mine travelled from Blackburn in an ancient and clapped out Morris 8 to Norfolk in order to see Britain's rarest bird -- it was a collared dove.
A year later a scientific report stated that this delicate bird which was a native of Greece would die during the next cold winter. Despite this prediction the collared dove not only survived the winter but bred successfully in the freezing cold of January and February. The species is now so numerous that it is regarded as a pest in some areas.
Sometimes this species is known as the collared turtledove or collared pigeon.The collared dove only measures 11 inches (27-28 centimetres) and the thin black ring around its slender neck is diagnostic of the species.
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