EVERY morning at sunrise, hundreds of rooks fly over our house, chattering among themselves as they head for some distant feeding ground. There are times I can hear their approach some moments before they appear. And then in the evening at sundown, they return to their roost in a nearby forest, still chattering and still flying in a rather widespread group.

They form a rather untidy flock comprising hundreds and sometimes even thousands of birds that might take several minutes to pass over our property. Clearly, some of the birds linger for several minutes after their friends have departed, especially on the return trip when they might hope to find yet another morsel, and there is no doubt the flock includes other species. In winter, the flock might also include visiting rooks from continental Europe.

I can sometimes hear the calls of jackdaws among them and occasionally carrion crows. Certainly when rooks are assembled on the ground at their feeding stations, crows and jackdaws will join them. After all, they are all members of the crow family which includes other large black birds such as the raven and chough, but also two colourful cousins, the jay and the magpie.

Rooks have a distinct white area around the base of their pale beak and this distinguishes it from the allblack crow.

The sight of this flock does raise some intriguing questions.

For example, how do the birds all know their destination?

And how do the stragglers know where to join the leaders when they have disappeared over the horizon? Is there a boss rook in charge?

If so, does that leading bird, male or female, choose the day’s feeding ground? And how does it know that food will be found there? Most certainly, there is a lot we don’t know about rooks.

However, when not feeding they will be noisily assembled in their rookeries. At this time of year in particular, they will be tending their untidy nests to give us the impression they are actually constructing or repairing them but it seems much of this activity is for show only. Nest building is done by the females and certainly they build their nests and start their brood very early in the spring or even during the latter days of winter.

They nest in huge colonies and in winter, when the trees are bare, their untidy nests comprising a structure of short sticks and twigs can be seen from a considerable distance. Their persistent cawing sounds will draw attention to them and a considerable number of rookeries have been built very close to human habitation.

I can recall a visit to the Bronte Museum in the old vicarage at Haworth in West Yorkshire when I discovered the old house was surrounded by a noisy colony of rooks nesting in the nearby trees – the effect was very sombre due to the tombstones beneath.

Some rookeries consist of thousands of birds which use the trees as their home patch, flying off daily to find food, but always returning.

Many of their nests are reused regularly as they are subjected to constant repair and it was once claimed that rooks nested only in elm trees. I have seen no evidence of this, although they do favour a variety of deciduous trees when, in the autumn as the leaves tumble away, their nests are revealed to be visible from a considerable distance among the bare branches.

One persistent piece of country lore is that rooks can sense a doomed or decaying tree and will not use it for their nests. There are lots of stories of them ignoring a single tree in the midst of their rookery, only for that tree to be later blown down in a gale or because it has died from what appeared to be a disease or other natural causes. Indeed, I knew one man who had the choice of a building site close to a piece of woodland containing a large rookery.

He declined because one of the trees which would have been close to his house had been ignored by the birds – and sure enough, it fell to the ground some months later.

Rooks are subjected to a lot of antagonism from landowners because their activities, especially in newly-ploughed fields, cause severe damage to crops. However, their favourite foods are pests which include wireworms and leather-jackets, as well as other grubs and insects.

The snag is that when they probe the ground to collect these titbits, they damage seeds and new crops. The question is whether their useful destruction of pests compensates for their damage to crops.

There is also a theory that rooks conduct a type of court hearing to penalise colleagues who misbehave.

These are known as rook parliaments. A large gathering will surround the offender, chattering loudly until they decide to drive it from the colony with pecking and harassment.

And, of course, there is always confusion between rooks and crows. If there is one or two, they are usually crows; if there is a flock, they will mainly be rooks. It doesn’t help, however, when scarecrows are actually placed to frighten away rooks.

Here in Yorkshire we call them flaycrukes, that name, it would seem, including both species.

Quick recovery

OUT and about in recent days, I have found it quite astonishing how the countryside, along with its birds, animals and vegetation, has recovered so quickly and effectively from the impact of those deep winter snows and intense frosts.

Even as the snow and ice was thawing, new growths were appearing and as I write these notes two weeks ahead of publication, I have seen primroses and aconites in bloom, snowdrops pushing through the ground, new shoots on trees with some of our garden plants making a brave attempt at recovery. Nearby, jasmine is also making an appearance.

An added bonus has been bird song.

In our garden, a tiny wren survived the winter chills and celebrated with his penetratingly loud song – perhaps he joined other wrens in a nearby nest box belonging to some friends.

In the depths of last winter, my friends counted 20 wrens making their cramped sleeping accommodation in a single nest box as a means of keeping warm. I am sure one of them was the little chap in our garden.

A robin has also produced his song and I have heard a blackbird making his first tentative notes as he warns other males against trespassing upon his territory.

In the wild, the hazel catkins are maturing fast and some of our deciduous trees have clear signs of buds preparing to burst open when the time is right.

New leaves can be seen on trees like the elder and shrubs like the ivy, while in some fields moles have been extremely busy with their non-stop hunt for worms.

The tiny mounds of fresh earth indicate their activity, while at the top of the field opposite our house, I heard the bark of a dog fox at night as he announced his presence to others.

It is possible that deep snow and heavy frosts have actually combined to create the power of goodness for wild creatures and vegetation.

There is an old Yorkshire saying that a covering of winter snow is as good as a layer of farmyard muck.