A PUB in Sully is considering plans to rehome a flock of doves on its grounds after reversing a decision to block a dovecote.

The Captain’s Wife public house in Beach Road, Sully, has said it is working on plans to construct a new dove cote elsewhere on its grounds.

This comes after the pub’s controversial decision last November to block the dovecote because of health, safety, and hygiene concerns.

The move, which trapped a flock of doves outside the cote for several days, was met with fierce outrage by locals who viewed the decision as an act of animal cruelty.

The pub later reversed its decision to block the dovecote and apologised to the local community but residents remained angry.

Some ‘review bombed’ the pub by leaving multiple negative reviews online.

After the initial decision, Ray Grosvenor, from Caerphilly Bird Rescue, visited the property and offered to rehome the birds. He said the owner’s of the Captain’s Wife phoned the police.

But in the last several weeks, the Caerphilly Bird Rescue Team have been working to safely capture the birds who have been scattered throughout the surrounding area.

The charity has had difficulty netting some of the birds who are being fed by locals.

On Thursday, January 23, they announced on their Facebook page:

“We have been in Sully every day this week catching the doves.

“Every day they all fly off at around midday making it a much slower process. “Yesterday we followed them and caught up with them congregated on the roof of a house about half a mile away.

“We knew someone was feeding them as they weren’t hungry and consequently not flocking into our trap as quickly as we expected. Obviously we are grateful for kind, caring people like this, but the problem now is that they don’t go back to the Dovecote until its time to roost so our window of opportunity for catching them is very small.”

On Friday, January 24, Caerphilly Bird Rescue Team announced on Facebook that they had found 17 birds while approximately 20 still remained at the Captain’s Arms, many of which had begun to roost in nearby trees.

A spokesman for the Captain’s Arms said they expected to secure the remaining birds today. They said: “We’re pleased to have been working closely with Caerphilly Bird Rescue (CBR) and our safety experts to help to rehome birds using the dovecote.

“This process is still ongoing as we want the work to be completed legally, to our high safety standards and to ensure that the birds are not harmed or subject to undue distress.

“With the help of CBR we plan to close the entrances to the dovecote today, but only once it’s been confirmed the dovecote is empty.

“We will then install two decoy devices to try and deter the remaining birds from returning and to hopefully encourage them to roost in a nearby garden where they are currently being fed.

“As part of the plan to rehome the birds we have also been exploring the option of constructing a new dovecote in the grounds of the pub, further down the garden.

“We expect all work to be completed as soon and as safely as possible.”

Caerphilly Bird Rescue were approached to provide comment.