‘Guardian of the forest’ routinely culled in Madeira

The Trocaz pigeon is a vital seed-disperser in one of the world's rarest forest ecosystems, but its taste for cabbage has put it in direct competition with humans. Guess who wins?

As we hike through the cool, low-canopied forest along a levada - a centuries-old water canal carved out of the mountainside - our guide talks effusively of a pigeon.

It's the "guardian of the forest" the guide with MB Tours tells me and the other hikers. Known as the Trocaz pigeon, or alternatively the laurel pigeon or the long-toed pigeon, it's only found here: on the Portuguese island of Madeira. We halt under an ancient laurel tree and the guide explains that the endemic pigeon is vital to Madeira because it disperses many of the plants found in this unique forest ecosystem: the laurisilva.