rooks.org.uk

The East of England boasts one of nature’s most remarkable sights. Up to 80,000 rooks gather at a wood in Norfolk, making this the biggest rookery in Britain - maybe even the world. Every morning and evening the birds fly in and out of the rookery en masse, making it an incredible spectacle.

The RSPB has requested we remove details of the whereabouts of the roost, since there is not the local infrastructure for large numbers of visitors.

Gamekeeper of the estate Joe Callum keeps an eye on the rookery.

“They just belong here,” he says. “They’re even mentioned in Doomsday Book.”

Rooks belong to the corvid family which also includes crows, ravens, magpies, jackdaws, and jays. Characterised by a bare, greyish-white face, thinner beak and peaked head. These birds have a cawing ‘kaah’ call.

Rooks are very sociable birds. They feed and roost in flocks in winter. The rook is the only species of crow to nest colonially in rookeries. These structures are home to an extended family of rooks for about six months of the year.

The size of a rookery is often dictated by the availability of food nearby - rooks rely on invertebrates and healthy worm populations on the farmland around them.

According to Norfolk based Mark Cocker, author of Birds Britannica, numbers of rooks are increasing, and the birds have no natural predator. But they don’t have the best reputation.

“Well it’s a very beautiful scene when they all fly. The birds gather every day to sleep in roost for protection, the mass resolves and they all fly as one organism,” says Mark Cocker. “Hitchcock has a lot to answer for. Black is the colour of evil … so they are often seen as omens of doom.”

Jennifer Westwood, an author and expert on superstition and folklore who lives in South Norfolk, explains why rooks feature heavily in folklore:

“They are mysterious because they are so clever. Folklore suggests they are the cleverest bird. In some countries it was suggested they sat in circles or parliaments, and debated. In East Anglia it’s considered very lucky to have them near your house, and if they go then it’s a bad sign - the family is about to fall on bad times.”

But local farmer Richard Hurst from Ormsby isn’t a fan. He is aware that their numbers are on the increase and he says they lay waste to about 35 per cent of all his seed crops, and eat sky lark chicks. He arranges for the birds to be shot to keep the numbers down.

Whatever your view, rooks are fascinating creatures. Professor Nicky Clayton at Cambridge University has been studying the birds for some years:

“The reason we’re interested in rooks is because they are highly intelligent, highly social and it’s often thought that our type of brain is key to high intelligence. We’re finding they have a completely different type of brain that gives different but still high intelligence. That’s exciting for all kinds of reasons. These studies have found that some corvids are not only superior in intelligence to birds of other avian species (perhaps with the exception of some parrots), but also rival many nonhuman primates.”

Increasingly, scientists agree that it isn’t physical need that makes an animal smart, but social necessity. Group living tends to be a complicated business so for individuals to prosper, they need to understand exactly what’s going on. So highly social creatures like dolphins, chimps, and humans tend to be large-brained and intelligent.

Like apes, many birds employ tools to gather food, but it isn’t clear whether birds like rooks appreciate how these tools work. It may be that they simply discover their usefulness by accident. One thing is clear - these birds are amongst the brainiest of our avian population.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/east/series9/week_nine.shtml