Howard Hughes the American entrepreneur who alledgedly went a bit of the rails later in his life, invented a plane which was nicknamed ” The Spruce Goose”. It was apparently huge, made of wood, and did fly now and again. I wonder if Hughes was inspired by the pigeons on an allotment plot. The beasts that frequent my allotment are more than well fed. Only American Style Federal Penitentiary style protection will save crop from decimation.

These pigeons are so big they can barely take off, and it looks like quite a lot of effort goes into getting them up to a reasonable flying height. With their guts full of not just mine, but other plotters produce.

This is a drawing done for a small book I’m working on for my grandchildren, all about the monsters on the plot. It’s intended to be in colour in due course, but I always like doing the line bit as it’s all without computer. I’ll be posting more of them as we go along and might post the odd spread from the book.

This one inspired from a recent visit when one of these beasts seemed to be flapping in a panic to get way from an empty plastic bottle on top of a cane that had spooked him. Once in the air they fly and swoop like swallows, it’s just that take off and landing can be a problem with all that excess weight of my vegetables.