Lunchtime Walk To Check On The Crows

A beautiful day. 

Here in Somerset we had thirty days of rain from the 17th of December until this weekend. It has been truly grim. But all that has finally changed. As with the rest of the country a northerly airflow has developed and ushered in much colder but thankfully brighter weather. Last nights frost was hard but here we've been spared any snowfall. Simply a crisp and beautiful day dawned.

Working from the home office these last two days I've been distracted by the corvid activity hereabouts. Jackdaw continue to use our garden as a flightpath, as they have done for years, flying in the morning and evening at eye level between our bedroom window and the fir tree at the bottom of the garden. I try and grab images of these birds as they noisily shoot by at almost hand-grabbing distance but the result is always a blur. One day, and a faster camera. 

Yesterday at dusk I noticed a jackdaw flock of around 100 birds heading to roost flying over the back field, very low and hedge hopping, presumably a peregrine or other such raptor was hassling out of sight. Safety in numbers for the smaller jackdaw, the larger rooks and carrion crow carried on as normal with their flightpaths at some height in small groups or pairs.

Today though lunch beckoned and I fancied a walk to see what's happening to the rooks up by the village. It is still very early in the breeding season, but I fancied a bit of a reconnaissance before the main event unfolds in February. I had about an hour for lunch and as it is about a half hour walk to the trees I keep an eye on in the village where rooks come each year and rebuild their rookery, I had bags of time. 

Although I live in a modern estate, I overlook unspoilt countryside. It is also very flat around here, we're on the Somerset Moors, on a flat headland jutting out into the Bristol Channel. At around 3 meters above sea level the area is hedges, isolated trees with farming mostly sheep and cattle on permanent grassland. Perfect for corvids and views. The view above is from the Chinese Take-Away not 200 meters from the house - it has to be one of the best such views anywhere while awaiting the prawn crackers, lovely sunsets in the summer. 

The first corvid I spotted was this carrion crow. I still can't work out what it has in its bill (maybe a Chinese cracker), but whatever it was this bird swooped down from a height, grabbed it and was off.

Ebdon Bow is the first place I meet on the walk after about 5 minute, a couple of farms along the banks of the River Banwell. Sometimes along the river you can see a kingfisher or heron. Today though nothing other than a pair of mallard. This is a tidal river and today it was full, the tide was obviously in. On my return journey the levels had dropped and the river ran fast and true back out to sea a mile away. Despite this being mid day it was still cold, frost lay untouched wherever the sun had failed to reach. One sad sight however was a dead fox by the bridge itself. Being the good member I am I reported the sighting to the Mammal Society on their sightings app as a road kill, but as the fox was covered in frost it had been there a while so hard to be 100% sure it was a fatality.  

Turning left at the T junction and past 'Rogers' farm, first view of the village and the first birds. A party of redwing with a few pied wagtail were gorging themselves by some cattle troughs in the field. winter thrushes are always wary, the best image I got was rubbish really. But looking across I could see my quarry in the fields and the trees. And very vocal they were too.

Wick St Lawrence is no more than a hamlet, but I've called it home since 1998. And in all those years I've kept an eye on the rooks and jackdaws. Some years are good, thirty or more rook nests, a raven nest one year, and jackdaw omnipresent.  Some years less so. I fear this year may be a lean year. While on the surface the village looks the same year in year out, there has been a lot of development recently. Trees grubbed out, old buildings converted into homes and just a general tidying up of unsightly areas.

An example of this caught my eye at one of the newer rookery sites on a bend in the lane. Last year there were half a dozen nests here in what it has to be said are not very tall willows. On today's walk, half of those trees have now gone. I'll try and find out what's happening, but this dew-pond which was impenetrable to all but a few moorhen has been opened up. My guess is that now Roger's son has taken over running the farm and converted it from dairy to beef and sheep he's opening it up for drinking water. To be fair it's not a clear fell, with some nice marginal slopes having been scraped out and a willow pollarded (those trees that have been removed looked quite rotten), but for the rooks, they've lost three taller trees leaving just two standing. I think the work has been done well so I'll keep an open mind and see what effect all this has on the overall numbers of rook in the village.

Just beyond this pond work, and nearer the village, the number of rook were increasing in the fields. In taller trees by the village they were loafing about on and around nests. I'd spotted rook on nests in Devon in late December, and again a week later alongside the M5. Whether these birds I watched today have eggs already in the nest I don't know. It is still a little early even for these early nesters. However it's obvious the nests there are substantial and well cared for after the winter winds. 

In the field in front rooks were very much paired up. Courting couples were dotted about, relaxing in the sun and even taking part in a little allopreening to strengthen the pair-bond. I watched a dozen or so rook pairs for a while. Each close to its partner, oblivious to my voyeurism, in beautiful condition too. Such a good sight to see. It's still very much winter so I only hope we don't get strong winds in February and March as we did last year which blew many of the nests out of the trees just at the wrong time.

Just a little way further on I arrived at my destination, a not that large pair of trees which for a decade now have provided the hub of the half a dozen rookeries of Wick St Lawrence. It is an odd place to build a nest site but it must work. Adjacent to a number of houses the tree canopy leans over the road where milk tankers, tractors and daily commuters trundle by. But they seem to like it and as I walked towards them there was a lot of activity from two or three dozen birds both in the tree and flying around.

However when I got to the trees they all flew off leaving just a bare branch landscape. Until November last years nests clung on to the upper branches, wind and rain since then have taken their toll and not a single nest remains. It is like this most years, these trees sway too much in the stronger winds. Come nesting time though a dozen or more nests will festoon these branches. Given the activity in and around the trees I'd expect rebuilding to begin soon, I'll notice when this begins as I drive underneath on my way to work. But for now though, simply a place for Corvus frugilegus to rest and relax in the sunshine.

I'd now been messing about looking at these crows for forty minutes, I was behind schedule and I needed to get back home and back to work. There is always a cross to bear. No time then to go and look at the jackdaw in the church tower. A trio of quick long lens images then of my favourite corvids. I'll return soon and have a proper look at what they're upto, but they are nicely paired up I see.

The return walk was quicker, but not uneventful. A pair of raven shot over me cronking madly, a species that is daily now here. And a great spotted woodpecker made passing use of a GPO telegraph pole as I still think of them. No drumming or calling from him today but a wonderful example of a right place at the right time encounter.

Finally I found myself almost back at the Chinese Take-Away when a small flock of starling made use of a couple of poplars planted decades ago in what had been the farm yard. We don't get the big murmurations of starling here but most winters we'll see at least one flock of 500+ wheeling and zooming over the house en-route to somewhere. 

That ended my walk with a flourish, just over an hour in the end and I have to say, it was not a bad  lunchtime walk at all.