General Chat

Ooh Pidgeons!!!!!! I have 2 really plump ones sat on the top of the trellis.That is where they have nooky.They look fair worn out lol.

i was only advocating a friendship with said pigeon until you could see the drumsticks were fat enough for dinner. Then catch, despatch, and bake.

You see! You now have a perfectly good pigeon pie recipe.

I remember when we went to the markets and OH bought squabs. He baked them in the oven and at dinner time I sat there looking at these poor little bodies. About the same size as canaries. Could not eat them, no way. Wipes tear away from eye!!

poor lickle pidgeon
wrap it up some pastry and keep it warm

How can anyone sound like a geeky nerd discussing a peashooter ...Eldrick can, now I am a dab hand at getting shut of pigeons :)))

Thank Mary, but dinner is not on for tonight. Have to hang the pesky pigeon when I have scared it to death with my imitation Parrot I have now placed on top of the jasmine.....*roots for pie funnel......

Morning all :-))))))

Pigeon Pie Recipe

5 fl oz (150 ml) red wine
2 tab!espoons (30 ml) port
6 juniper berries, crushed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetabie oil
4 pigeons
1 oz (25 g) butter
1 tbsp (15 ml) vegetabie oil
1 onion, finely chopped
4 rashers streaky bacon, rinds removed, chopped
12 oz (350 g) chuck steak, trimmed and cut into 1 inch (2.5 cm) cubes
6 oz (175 g) flat mushrooms, thickly sliced
few sprigs of parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp dried thyme
12 oz (350 g) shortcrust pastry
method
1. Mix together wine, port, juniper berries and oil for the marinade and season with freshly ground black pepper. Remove breasts from the pigeons and cut into large pieces. Put into a non-metallic dish, pour over the marinade, cover. Leave in fridge overnight.

2. Melt the butter and oil in a frying pan, add the onion and bacon and fry gently for 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, reserve.

3. Remove pigeon from the marinade, drain. Reserve marinade. Increase heat and fry the pigeon and the steak in batches, sealing on all sides.

4. Put the pigeon, steak, onion and bacon into a 2 pint (1.25 litre) pie dish and top with the mushrooms. Sprinkle with herbs, pour over the reserved marinade.

5. Roll out the pastry to 1/4 inch (5 mm) thick, put a pie funnel into the dish. Cut a 1/2 inch (1 cm) strip of pastry and place around the edge of the dish. Brush with water and top with the remaining pastry. Use the pastry trimmings to decorate the top of the pie.

6. Bake at Mark 4 (180°C) 350°F for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to Mark 2 (150°C) 300°F and cook for a further 1 1/2 hours. Cover the pastry with foil if it browns too much during cooking.


So, what time's dinner BC?? ;-)))

Mary xxx

Yeah, that would do fine. The compressed air type, with a muzzle velocity of 2000 FPS and explosive peas would be the one I recommend.

Or a plastic owl in a strategic place.....or fine netting, the sort you cover your strawberry plants with.

:-)

Haven't got an air rifle to hand, Eldrick, do you think a pea shooter would do?

i love that new perfum in boots its called TESTER

Air rifle. End of problem.

Scram's a good perfume! lol.........wouldn't matter if it was a rough and ready BC just add more red wine ;O)) x

Mau, it is a scavenging LONDON pigeon! lol Not those sweet fat dovelike pigeons you see in the countryside. I have some perfume I don't like, maybe I could spray it around? XX

Have you bought the chicken for today's dinner BC?.......Just a thought x

You were right Hayley, have just dragged the doggy back....the most glorious day and nice to see so many pigeon lovers...*upchucks....

Aunty Sherlock I cannot and will not learn to love pigeons. I spend my life waving red teatowels and water pistols at them. They are breeding in my jasmine for pure spite....and as an aside...I thought that gluey stuff was only for mice? I tried it and couldnt bear their dying whimpers....*faints....

sherlock she will be trotting round the park now dragging her poor little doggy with her.

BC. My first thought was the feeding and luring herself away from the jasmine. Having an OH who is bird friendly I have learnt that pigeons are unable to keep their mouths shut. As soon as you feed one of them, they are off squawking across the rooftops. You then have to feed all their rellies, and their rellies, rellies. Before you know they will be inviting themselves to sit on your knee whilst you hand feed them.

Forgive me it is easy to draw a more human picture of the above paragraph. Believe me I am speaking of the feathered variety of birdlife.

There are two other options. One is horrible and I will contemplate serious damage to your person if you try it. It is a gooey sticky substance you spread on the ledge or gutter or tree. The birds stick to it, can't fly and the result is not pretty.

The other is bird spikes. Now this sounds a bit like the old pin cushion. And so it is. The deterrent is a spiky type of tape which you secure onto the area where the birds are not wanted. They can not land on the spikes and so they go elsewhere.

Now if you know your physics you will know that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The pigeons will no longer roost in your jasmine. They will move elsewhere. The gutter, the window ledge, the clothes line, the fence. Anywhere but where you put the bird spikes.

Haaaaa. I am sitting here picturing BC's house. Bird spikes everywhere and not a pigeon in sight. You will be famous as "the bird spike lady".

Why not learn to love your pigeon. When it is fat enough dispose of it humanely, twist!! I'm sure there will be a pigeon cooked in a slow cooker recipe on a thread here somewhere.

Morning Ladies, ~~~~

get a cat BC, it will dine on the pigeon lol, x

BC
I'll swop you Wilhemina for some seagulls....lots of them.
No jasmine available here though.

Gwyn

Morning Hayley ~~~~~

BC you could try putting some windmills nearby...or some cds on string...to scare Wilhelmina off :)

xx

Ah Rosin Roisin! This is NOT the perfect spot for Wilhelmina (awful name), it is full of predators and close to traffic and in a highly polluted zone and there are noisy neighbours, nothing conducive to bringing up little..er...squabs at all at all....

And I am far too young to be a Grandma to a Pigeon(s)

*weeps some more....