No worries I didn't realise the crows had such a "following" I think I have all the information I need now , I am struggling to resist a windup and on that basis should probably quit whilst I am ahead. All good points raised and I am grateful for the insight, I probably should be more tolerant of all those around me, a good lesson for all of us. X
I wondered if I'd made a mistake after moving in and hearing how noisy it was (two years ago) but I have become accustomed to the racket and as someone else said, with binoculars I've learned about them. I have been fascinated to see that it looks as if the rooks use teamwork to protect the rookery. I don't know if anyone knows for sure but it looked to me like they have a high flyer lookout, a medium flyer and a caller near the rookery. Have there been studies into their behaviour? Also, I brushed the dogs and put the hair on the lawn and it was great to see them cautiously come and collect it as nesting material.
We have high-flying red kite in pairs here and the occasional sparrowhawk which hubz tells me he knows of by the presence of a young collared dove on the bird bath then poof! a plume of feathers - oh dear!
I used to live very close to an airport. I thought it would drive me mad. After a few months I hardly noticed the planes at all, my brain tuned them out. Now I live near to a rookery and I enjoy all the bustle and activity but the noise never wakes me. I think you will find the same, Dan. There are some disadvantages - they raid the nests of smaller birds and drive them away from feeders and bird tables, but they are only behaving as nature made them and they are intelligent, cooperative birds who make wonderful parents.
I too live near a busy airport and under the flight path, I am well known in my family for whingeing about the noisy parrots in my garden. I sent my brother a video of them so he could see how many and how loud they were, his reply - he had trouble hearing the parrots for the noise of the planes flying overhead
I still complain about the parrots, but not so much...........
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
Haha you've both reminded me of a holiday in Rhodes. We were so close to the airport that the plane wheels were down as they went past. The racket was wild, especially the Olympus planes. The fighter jets rattled the plaster off the next door's shower! After a couple of days we slept through it...but if a mosquito came in everyone woke up and all hell let loose!!!!
Rookeries have been recorded in Britain since the Domesday Book - rooks are important to agriculture - the rooks feast on all sorts of soil-dwelling bugs that would damage the farmers' crops. Just try Googling Rookery Farm and see how many there are !!! A really important part of the history of the British countryside ... and yes, for 20+ years I lived just a few yards from a large rookery ... I loved hearing them calling as I woke on a sunny summer morning.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Rooks are very social birds. Once they get down to the serious business of nesting, after the nest building and stick stealing and the eggs are being laid and incubated, it is often the case that young non breeding Rooks patrol the rookery. Most birds in their second calendar year do not breed, they are kind of like teenagers. They will help out their parents, aunties and uncles with collecting nest building materials and once things have settled down they will patrol the skies around the rookery, particularly chasing away and mobbing, as it's know, any nearby raptors.
As Dove said, 'Crow Country' is very good but it is by Mark Cocker, not Andrew. I recommend it to anyone interested in Rooks and their close cousins, Jackdaws.
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
As Dove said, 'Crow Country' is very good but it is by Mark Cocker, not Andrew. I recommend it to anyone interested in Rooks and their close cousins, Jackdaws.
Posts
Very gracious and wise Dan.
I wondered if I'd made a mistake after moving in and hearing how noisy it was (two years ago) but I have become accustomed to the racket and as someone else said, with binoculars I've learned about them. I have been fascinated to see that it looks as if the rooks use teamwork to protect the rookery. I don't know if anyone knows for sure but it looked to me like they have a high flyer lookout, a medium flyer and a caller near the rookery. Have there been studies into their behaviour? Also, I brushed the dogs and put the hair on the lawn and it was great to see them cautiously come and collect it as nesting material.
We have high-flying red kite in pairs here and the occasional sparrowhawk which hubz tells me he knows of by the presence of a young collared dove on the bird bath then poof! a plume of feathers - oh dear!
Circle of life.
Cloggie I thought you were going to offer George to help out!
I used to live very close to an airport. I thought it would drive me mad. After a few months I hardly noticed the planes at all, my brain tuned them out. Now I live near to a rookery and I enjoy all the bustle and activity but the noise never wakes me. I think you will find the same, Dan. There are some disadvantages - they raid the nests of smaller birds and drive them away from feeders and bird tables, but they are only behaving as nature made them and they are intelligent, cooperative birds who make wonderful parents.
I too live near a busy airport and under the flight path, I am well known in my family for whingeing about the noisy parrots in my garden. I sent my brother a video of them so he could see how many and how loud they were, his reply - he had trouble hearing the parrots for the noise of the planes flying overhead
I still complain about the parrots, but not so much...........
Haha you've both reminded me of a holiday in Rhodes. We were so close to the airport that the plane wheels were down as they went past. The racket was wild, especially the Olympus planes. The fighter jets rattled the plaster off the next door's shower! After a couple of days we slept through it...but if a mosquito came in everyone woke up and all hell let loose!!!!
There have been a lot of studies of rooks and crows - a marvellous book is Crow Country by Andrew Cocker https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/jul/28/featuresreviews.guardianreview5 .
Rookeries have been recorded in Britain since the Domesday Book - rooks are important to agriculture - the rooks feast on all sorts of soil-dwelling bugs that would damage the farmers' crops. Just try Googling Rookery Farm and see how many there are !!! A really important part of the history of the British countryside ... and yes, for 20+ years I lived just a few yards from a large rookery ... I loved hearing them calling as I woke on a sunny summer morning.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Rooks are very social birds. Once they get down to the serious business of nesting, after the nest building and stick stealing and the eggs are being laid and incubated, it is often the case that young non breeding Rooks patrol the rookery. Most birds in their second calendar year do not breed, they are kind of like teenagers. They will help out their parents, aunties and uncles with collecting nest building materials and once things have settled down they will patrol the skies around the rookery, particularly chasing away and mobbing, as it's know, any nearby raptors.
As Dove said, 'Crow Country' is very good but it is by Mark Cocker, not Andrew. I recommend it to anyone interested in Rooks and their close cousins, Jackdaws.
Duh!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
PP George is sojourning in another spot of the garden and cannot be disturbed (shhh!)