June 28 - Day 83 - “A likely story indeed!" said the Pigeon, in a tone of the deepest contempt. " Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Last Monday, I mentioned the pair of pigeons that seem to spend longer in our garden than anywhere else so today, I thought I better show you a picture of the male bird, which about 10 months ago we named Walt.

Now I do know that various experiments have taken place to prove that pigeons are very intelligent, They are according to the results, able to recognise themselves in the mirror, distinguish between written words and recognise all the letters of the English alphabet, as well as finding their way back to the nest from 1300 miles away.

All I can say about Walt and his partner is that they are either hiding all these skills extremely well, or they are spending too long being interested in physical activity (which we will not dwell on) that no time remains to demonstrate any mental agility. This morning, for example, Walt and partner, after trying to fit on a seed tray together and failing, decided to both try to land on the wind sculpture at the same time. This acted like two big Ferris wheels and sent them off in different directions round in a circle before they both clumsily flew back to the fence in a dishevelled state. I suppose another way of looking at it is, if Walt had been picked to assist in the First World War, then the outcome might have been different, especially if he became distracted by either his partner or suet blocks (we’re still not sure which one he would choose over the other).

I hope you’re impressed by the link here - as today (June 28) in 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie were killed, which started a chain of events leading to the outbreak of World War I. In 1919, exactly five years later on June 28, the Treaty of Versailles was signed, marking the end of World War I. Fighting had actually ended when the armistice had been signed on 11th November (hence the significance of the date) but it took a further six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to agree and conclude the treaty.

The Imperial War Museums website has a fascinating section on THE INCREDIBLE CARRIER PIGEONS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR. For example, it describes, Pigeon No. 498, which Skipper Thomas Crisp sent for help in August 1917 when he was attacked by a German U-boat in August 1917. The account records that although Crisp was killed, the bird, despite being wounded, managed to deliver the message in time for help to be sent to the crew. There are many more incredible stories like this one.

You may ask, what has this to do with cycling to work this morning? The answer would be, ‘not a lot’, other than Monday morning always feels more of a struggle and the antics of Walt and his best friend at least kept me smiling while pedalling on the steepest bits. We can probably also learn quite a bit this week by thinking about the Carnegie quote about pigeons, found beneath the picture or perhaps.

Criticisms are like homing pigeons. They always return home. Dale Carnegie