{"id":35928,"date":"2026-09-22T10:15:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T09:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=35928"},"modified":"2026-09-22T10:15:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T09:15:31","slug":"pete-at-st-helens-church-yard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=35928","title":{"rendered":"Pete at St Helen’s Church Yard"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nMy name\u2019s Pete. I\u2019m the pigeon you\u2019ll often see perched on the gravestones in St Helen\u2019s churchyard. And before you say anything, no, I didn\u2019t choose it because it’s holy. I chose it because it\u2019s high, safe, and I can balance here. The local cats can\u2019t bother me.<\/p>\n

Now, about the foot. Probably the first thing you noticed. It\u2019s bent up. Doesn\u2019t hurt anymore. Doesn\u2019t stop me. Doesn\u2019t define me. Every pigeon in Abingdon knows: you\u2019re not a proper town-centre bird until you\u2019ve lost a toe, some feathers, or had a near miss with an e-scooter.<\/p>\n

I misjudged a landing and ended up tangled in some orange mesh that twisted round me. I got out, but the foot didn\u2019t come out too well. Could\u2019ve been worse. Could\u2019ve been a wing.<\/p>\n

Being hit by a car or a truck is worse. A bad foot just slows you down. It\u2019s not the end.<\/p>\n

From up here I can see everything: dropped chips, lost ice-cream cornets, and the homo sapiens who think we pigeons need bread.<\/p>\n

And I survive here. Bent foot. Near-on perfect body.<\/p>\n

Attracting a female is a problem, though. My mating dance doesn’t hit the high notes. Some of the lads puff out their chests, strut about, and suddenly have an admirer cooing at them. I do my best: a hop, turn, wobble, flap. But it doesn\u2019t bring the females out in raptures. Some of them are kind about it. But not kind enough to let me \u2014<\/p>\n

Hey. What\u2019s going on there? Some homo sapien taking my photograph. Not even bird seed for it. Is it because of my foot?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m off!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My name\u2019s Pete. I\u2019m the pigeon you\u2019ll often see perched on the gravestones in St Helen\u2019s churchyard. And before you say anything, no, I didn\u2019t choose it because it’s holy. I chose it because it\u2019s high, safe, and I can balance here. The local cats can\u2019t bother me. Now, about the foot. Probably the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pigeon-talk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35928\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}