Fuzzy baby pigeons are a miracle of nature that made my heart warm when I thought of them, but at the same time I would prefer them to go and be miracles of nature somewhere where their family won't be crapping on my stuff.

I think that's a very natural reaction! Go and be cute elsewhere, pigeons...

I seem to remember that the exciting adventure with the Daleks was pretty much the one DW novelisation I always disliked, mostly for those reasons - it was so different and wrong. I loved David Whitaker's The Crusade, though. It was very shippy!