Albert
Albert (1)
This is Albert, showing how he got his name. Albert is technically a visitor but he has been hanging around for some months now. Here he is sitting on top of the computer that runs the nest webcam.
Albert (2)
Another shot of Albert, winking at the camera. He is a squidgy pidgy. He asks me to feed him. Oooooooooooo. Oooooooooooo. Oooooooooooo. Oooooooooooo. Then he thanks me before he eats it. Oooooooooooo. Oooooooooooo. Oooooooooooo.
Albert (3)
Here is Albert sitting on the cooker. I hate cooking, and feed myself entirely on stuff that can be cooked in a microwave, so the cooker is never used. It is switched off at the wall, and forms a repository for odds and sods, such as the bowl in which I tried to crystallise ammonium chloride and never cleaned out. It also serves as a pigeon perch, and is the place where I put Albert's food.
Albert (4)
This time the culinary appliance Albert has selected to sit on is the microwave. It is useful that microwaves have flat tops with no holes in, as it enables me to put junk on top of them. It also provides Albert with a place to relax. If you look carefully you will see that he has allowed his right wing to droop down and is using it to flop onto. I love it when they sit like that.
Albert (5)
Here we see Albert perched on top of a cupboard being a vase. He does it very well, but he hasn't figured out how to put flowers in his feathers yet.
Victoria
Victoria (1)
This is Victoria on her first visit. She was pretty young at the time as you can see. When I walked in she panicked, but instead of flying back outside flew past me into the main room where she flew up on to the top of a cupboard. On top of this cupboard is a knackered stereo which is Whatsherface's favourite perching spot. Victoria is obviously intrigued by the notion that a pigeon can have her own stereo to sit on, and is regarding it intently. She also has a mucky beakie.
Victoria (2)
Whatsherface being elsewhere at the time, Victoria decided to try it out. I think she quite likes it but isn't quite as impressed as she thought she would be. She didn't stay there long. Whatsherface wasn't going to put up with that sort of thing.
Victoria (3)
After her initial visit Victoria didn't come back for a while, but then decided that perhaps she'd have another look. Once she'd decided not to (a) panic (b) nick Whatsherface's favourite spot, she found it rather congenial. She is certainly feeling cosy in this photo. She also looks a lot more grown-up than on her previous visit.
Victoria (4)
It is not easy to tell from this photograph, but this is where the pidgies gain access to their haven. Victoria seems to have decided that it would nevertheless be a good place to snuggle up. I'd have thought it would be really draughty, but she doesn't seem to find it that way.
Victoria (5)
I wouldn't have thought this place would be any less draughty, but again Victoria appears to disagree. She is sitting on top of the motor of a large fan (which is not operating of course). Behind her is the cage surrounding the fan blades. It would be blowing a gale here if the fan was running, and without the fan it's still right in the draught. But she seems cosy enough.
Victoria (6)
This is Victoria in one of her rare moods when she feels like posing for the camera. I suppose with being on the webcam such a lot she gets a bit fed up with being photographed. However, she has certainly struck a most becoming pose on top of a paint can here.
Victoria and Albert
Victoria and Albert (1)
It would seem that, despite her youth, a significant factor in Victoria's decision to return was Albert. Here they are sitting on top of the computer that runs the pigeon's nest webcam, and Albert is grandly explaining his grand plan, which is that they should stay here and eat food and make a nest and have lots and lots of queak-queaks AND be known all over the world because they're on the Internet. Victoria is feeling dubious about the proposal. I think she's worried that her grandchildren will end up fighting each other in a war that devastates much of Europe.
Victoria and Albert (2)
Albert is now demonstrating parts of his grand plan. "Look, this is where we can make a nest, it's really comfy and snug." Victoria is not impressed. "Don't be daft, it's a bunch of old magazines on the edge of a precipice. The eggs will fall off. What kind of a nest site is that? You'll be trying to implement RFC 1149 next." He seemed to persuade her eventually though.
Blackie
Blackie (1)
This is Blackie, the male from the original pigeon's nest webcam nest. He has hurt his leg, as you can see, so couldn't mate again when their egg disappeared (I suspect a magpie was involved in the disappearance). I tried to catch him to have a look at it but he's too canny for that.
Blackie (2)
This is Blackie a bit later, looking rather happier. God healed his leg.
Blackie (3)
Blackie again, this time on a toolbox. Sadly there will be no more photos of Blackie. He died, suddenly and for no apparent reason. It was a great shock. Wee Lassie, his mate, was most upset, hung around moping and then disappeared for a few days. She is back now, and seems to be getting over it.
Wee Lassie
Wee Lassie (1)
This is Wee Lassie, Blackie's widow. Like many pigeons she seems to like sitting on toolboxes. Indeed, the toolbox she is sitting on here is connected with the awakening of my interest in pigeons - some years ago a wild pair decided to nest in it, and I watched the development of their chick with great interest. She has begun to take an interest in Pinkbeakie, and they were crooning away in the toolbox themselves the other day.
Wee Lassie (2)
Here she is on the same toolbox, but she has decided to stand on one leg in case standing on two legs makes her fall over. This is apparently a common delusion among pigeons.
Wee Lassie (3)
This window is used as an exit by the pigeons. I'm not sure if it is also used as an entrance; that would be possible but would take some skilful flying. Here Wee Lassie is of the mind that it also makes a good place to hang out. I'd have thought it would be right in the draught myself. Perhaps she is attracted by the opportunity to crap on the heads of the other pigeons who sit outside on the windowsill.
Wee Lassie (4)
This is Wee Lassie sitting on the handle of an old kettle, looking very beautiful for the camera.
Caustic
Caustic (1)
Caustic had damaged his wing, and he couldn't fly. Here he is sitting on a bottle of caustic soda. He liked doing that, so he was named Caustic. He made a good recovery and has now been released.
Caustic (2)
This is Caustic showing his damaged wing. He has scrambled up on to a pile of motorcycle-related junk. He likes junk.
Caustic (3)
Here is Caustic when his wing was healing and he could manage short flights. He has flown up onto my motorcycle boots. He seems to like motorcycle stuff. Perhaps he damaged his wing falling off his bike.
Caustic (4)
Caustic likes sitting on my bike boots so much that he has gone to sleep.
Joey
Joey (1)
This is the ickle silly bird, or the ickle squidgy bird, or the ickle gorgeous. He didn't have a proper name for a while because he never did anything particularly noteworthy. After sufficient time had passed without inspiration striking me I decided that the name "Joey" could no longer cease to be applied, and so now Joey he is.
When I found him he was very thin and was too weak to fly. He seems to have a mild case of PMV, evinced by a tendency to twist his head to the right and run in circles, and difficulty picking up food from the ground. I'm giving him food in a cup, where the depth of the pile of food means that he is almost guaranteed to get something in his beak even if it wasn't what he was aiming at. He is now up to weight and his number twos have ceased to be green, and he acts normal most of the time except when something freaks him out.
Joey (2)
Here he has put his head between his legs and backed right up into the corner of the bath. He went through a phase of doing that but seems to have got over that now and returned to running in circles. Mostly now he holds his head at a normal angle, which is a good sign for which I give thanks.
Joey (3)
I have now managed to get some photos of him being normal. It's not easy, because he doesn't keep still and by the time the auto focus has adjusted to his new position he's moved again. However, this one is quite reasonable.
Whatsherface
Whatsherface (1)
Whatsherface thinks that a Hewlett-Packard Laserjet 2 with the paper tray upside down in the output tray and a backdrop of a television circuit board is a good place to pose for the camera. I think she has a point. She is a very squidgy pidgy. I hand-raised her from a three-day-old chick. She likes to preen me, and to stick her beak in my mouth and shake it about.
Whatsherface (2)
Whatsherface in close-up.
Whatsherface (3)
Whatsherface asleep.
Pinkbeakie
Pinkbeakie (1)
This is Pinkbeakie, who has decided to join the club, snuggled up on top of a cupboard peering inquisitively over the edge. While it is not visible in the photo, it would appear that the object of the scrutiny is a Lister-Petter AD1 single-cylinder diesel engine. Its purpose in life is to be converted from a naturally-aspirated four-stroke to a supercharged two-stroke and installed in a motorcycle. Perhaps Pinkbeakie, like Caustic, is a biker, and is having similar kinds of thoughts.
Pinkbeakie (2)
I wouldn't be very comfortable balancing across the top of a carton of washing powder, but Pinkbeakie seems to like it. I wasn't quite sure whether Pinkbeakie is male or female. I was hoping for a male to keep Wee Lassie company, but was tending towards the opposite conclusion. But a few minutes ago I heard a ruckus and discovered Pinkbeakie and Albert having a scrap, with Pinkbeakie strutting and swearing like a male but in a squeaky voice, and trying to do that inflating the crop thing, which I've never seen a female do. So perhaps Pinkbeakie is a bit of a Julian Clary.
Pinkbeakie (3)
Male or female, Pinkbeakie is capable of a very elegant pose on top of my toolbox. Perhaps I should take back the Julian Clary comment as an insult to a fine pigeon. Indeed, recently Pinkbeakie and Wee Lassie have been getting together... maybe soon the matter will be settled with the appearance of eggs. But you need to clean your beakie, you mucky bird.
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