Wilton woman tells of dove 'carnage' as hundreds look for new nest

Christina Morrow, 80, feels helpless and the stress of finding bodies of birds is mounting to the point where she feels it is "never-ending".

Mrs Morrow has lived on consecrated ground next to St Mary and St Nicholas Parish Church since 1976 but this is the first year she's seen "so much wanton destruction".

The situation became unusual when Mrs Morrow noticed a pair of doves loitering on the lower deck of her garden for a whole day on Monday, August 19.

Upon investigation she found a baby dove hiding behind a plant pot and that one of the birds had an injured wing.

Another dove arrived the following day and Mrs Morrow found the first bird's body mauled by a neighbour's cat in her garden.

Christina Morrow feels overwhelmed with the amount of death in her garden. (Image: Newsquest)

This cycle of watching new birds land in the garden then discovering their corpses soon afterwards has become a near-daily routine for Mrs Morrow and it's "taking its toll" on her.

“It just got to the point I was finding it all so stressful and never-ending. I could not do anything to stop these birds being killed," said Mrs Morrow.

"If it were a dog it would have been put down but cats seem to get away with it and they are vicious."

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Doves hold a special place in Mrs Morrow's heart as one appeared on her patio the day after her daughter drowned in the River Nadder.

She said: “To me, they are the birds of peace.

"They have a deep meaning for me because of what happened after my daughter died and I feel absolutely helpless and unable to protect them."

Reverend Mark Wood, rector of Wilton, said the church had a "huge number of hybrid-pigeons" in the church tower over the last couple of years as the screening deteriorated.

St. Mary & St. Nicholas Parish Church in Wilton. (Image: Newsquest)

He believes around 200 birds had made their way in and were becoming a "health hazard" as well as damaging the building.

Approximately 60 large bin bags of guano had been removed from the space above the ringing chamber.

A professional team had been employed to advise and carry out repairs to the screening, avoiding the bird's mating season to offer as much protection as possible.

Revd Wood said: "We are also saddened that there have been some casualties, as we'd hoped there was sufficient shelter in the immediate area for the birds to find other sites - as the majority have.

"Clearly it's a situation we would all have preferred to avoid, but we could not leave things as they were, and have carefully sought the most responsible way to return the tower to its original condition."

Mrs Morrow approached various wildlife charities but she either received no answer or was told the charity “did not have the funds to chase up everything”.

Hundreds of doves are looking for a new home in Wilton. (Image: Newsquest)

In a bid to help the birds, Mrs Morrow had been putting out water and bird seed but now feels guilty about potentially luring them into “death by cat attack”.

She said: "I thought people should know that something this catastrophic was happening right in the middle of our town.

“Whatever [the church] has done to cause this carnage, I don’t think they properly thought through what would happen when they took the birds roost away from them.

“There were obviously quite a number of doves roosting. I think that’s something we should celebrate not try to stamp out."