Pigeons and doves make up an order of birds called the Columbiformes and more than 250 species have been recorded world wide.

The long extinct flightless dodo was actually a huge pigeon!

There has been some confusion caused because the names dove and pigeon are synonymous and actually mean the same thing.

The family have been useful to us for thousands of years because they are good to eat and have a strong ‘homing’ instinct and have been used to carry messages.

But as they eat seeds, often those of valuable crops, they have been considered as pests.

There are two very unsual features of pigeon behaviour.

Unlike other birds, they do not need to lift their heads to swallow water but can suck up the liquid rather in the manner of a mammal.

During the breeding season pigeons feed their young on a substance of a similar contitution to mammal’s milk and which is produced by both sexes in a region close to the crop.

The town pigeon is a version of the rock dove (Columba livia) which is now (in its pure form at least) restricted to a few sea cliffs – there is no real difference between a sea cliff and a town building with window ledges.

In the urban envrionment there is much more food available and hence the rapid increase in the population.

Many people believe they are a form of vermin and a hazard to health – and the weight of scientific evidence would suggest that they are.

A fungus called cryptococcus neoformans has been found in the droppings of town pigeons which can not only attack human skin but can on occasions cause fatal danger to the lungs and nervous system.

Psittacosis, a disease normally associated with parrots, can be treadmilled to humans, it causes inflammation of the lungs and pneumonia.

It therefore makes sense to advise well-meaning people not to feed pigeons in areas where they are found in large numbers.