Flutter

The piges seem to like it here. They have adopted several rooftops around the town centre where they gather like confused church congregations, doing their birdy thang and cooing at each other. Every so often they take to the skies in a squawking flap of feathers, circling the town centre for five minutes and then returning to their original roof.... They're real street pigeons, not middle-class, Guardian-reading, dinner party throwing ones - bedraggled, battle-scarred and tenacious. I doubt they'll ever starve - the restaurant scraps and discarded pizza cartons alone could probably sustain a population twice their size - but really, it can't be much fun doing the beaky shuffle at this time of year, when the street corner winds start to rise. When I see them limping around each other and battling over breadcrumbs, I can't help but think they missed a trick not holidaying in South Africa for the winter like their swallow pals...