Two turtle doves from the Levant: Country diary 50 years ago
HAMPSHIRE: I was lucky today in seeing two specimens of the Syrian turtle dove. This species, Streptopelia deca-octu, is a recent arrival in England. A migration started about six years ago from the Levant, the original habitat. Numbers of these doves have come northwards, crossing the Alps and skirting eastern France, and have settled in Holland, there establishing themselves. They are now crossing to England in small groups. Individually, the birds are a little larger than the turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) which comes to our shores in May and leaves in October. The Syrian turtle dove (S. deca-octo), on the other hand, stays the winter, and that is why I believe that those birds that I saw on the Petersfield-Winchester road were the original variety. My first thought was that they were turtle doves, but soon remembered that turtle doves had left more than a month ago. On making inquiries I have found that specimens of deca-octo have been seen of late in the Meon valley. The birds I saw may have been the same as those seen by other observers at Warnford, or more probably members of the same migrating group that have come north from Holland. This Syrian dove is a bit larger than the usual English species. The white of the tail feathers has a blue tinge, and the collar round the neck is more complete.
The Guardian, 20 November 1964 Photograph: The Guardian