Don't know what you've got till it's gone. Rookeries

[Astro Pen]

I'm making a film for an October film festival. It is fundamentally a narration of one of my stories. However it involves, as a significant element, a rookery.
There was one on the farm where I lived, which inspired the story (as well as serving as an unwanted alarm clock. ) But that was ten years ago. Going back it no longer exists. Nor, indeed, can I find a rookery anywhere!
They all seem to have gone.
Does anyone know of a rookery that is still extant? Preferably in the Cardiff / Brecon region of Wales?
The disappearance of Rooks and Crows and their replacement with Jackdaws and Magpies is something that doesn't get as much questioning press as it deserves.

 

[Danny McG]

I genuinely misread (time for new specs maybe?) the post title and I came in here to read the chat about Rockeries!

 

[Harpo]

There’s a few in Glamorgan

https://glamorganbirds.org.uk/gbc-rookery-survey-2022-23/

The map at that page indicates some in and around Cardiff

 

[Astro Pen]

Thanks @Harpo. Appreciated
That is useful. ( found it a couple of weeks back.), and sums up the problem well.
It is alarming that I have already visited two of the three in my immediate area and they have gone since last year. The third is relatively remote, requiring a bit of a trek I will be up there next week.

 

[Foxbat]

I have a some Rooks that nest every year in a large tree opposite my house. I'd hesitate to actually call it a Rookery because there are only about four or five nests a year. They are a constant source of amusement and often bemusement. It's always a pleasure battling with them. I'm constantly looking for new ways to try and stop them 'rooking' all the bird feed. They are incredibly clever birds and can easily open bird feeders. Sometimes they even try and fly off with them. One stole a half coconut shell filled with fat and mealworms. It just pulled it off the branch and flew away with the shell dangling from its beak by the piece of string used to hang it over a branch.

I'm not sure how they did it but I had one feeder secured with cable ties (zip ties) and they managed to get the lid off without actually breaking the ties. I'm determined to win but, right now it's Rooks 1, Me 0

Wonderful birds (as are all those in the Crow family)

I'm definitely seeing an awful lot of Magpies here in southeast Scotland. Thirty years ago, they were rare but now they're everywhere. And, on a tangential subject, I can't remember the last time I heard a Cuckoo in these parts. Climate/habitat change?

 

[Harpo]

Here on my island we don’t have magpies (one sighting was reported in 2014, but I’ve not heard of any since) - we do have a lot of hooded crows, and some rooks in the castle grounds, and cuckoos near my house. At my previous house a few miles away, a cuckoo stayed in my garden for a couple of weeks until it’s mate arrived. They both hung around for a couple more days before going elsewhere.

 

[Orcadian]

... Nor, indeed, can I find a rookery anywhere! They all seem to have gone. Does anyone know of a rookery that is still extant?

I was unaware of this and if rookeries disappeared across the country, I would find that very sad. For me. the sound of rooks is part of UK village and rural life. However, you can see from this graph that they are among the bird species that are disappearing from Britain.

The link is here: https://data.bto.org/trends_explorer/

 

[HareBrain]

That is alarming. There are at least two within an easy walk of my house, so I haven't noticed any decline personally. I have noticed an increase in jackdaw numbers, but I've not heard of them being in competition.

 

[Orcadian]

I have noticed an increase in jackdaw numbers, but I've not heard of them being in competition.

Yes indeed; jackdaws are increasing. Some good news at least! And I'm glad to hear you have rookeries.

 

[HareBrain]

And I'm glad to hear you have rookeries.

Both, now I think about it, are near fields kept year-round for horses. Maybe the insects that live in the turf and the animal dung gives the rooks a good source of food. I wouldn't be surprised if their decline elsewhere is caused by intensive agriculture, like with many other birds.

 

[Astro Pen]

Tree felling has played a significant part too. Councils around here seem to have had a tree felling mania this past few years. Especially the very tall deciduous type that rooks love to nest atop. The heads of the valleys road scheme seems to have cleared way beyond what was needed.
There are multiple points like this They say they will replant but the fact is a whole ecosystem has been wiped out, Cynically lobbing a few saplings in won't restore it.

credit Google maps

 

[Ursa major]

Does anyone know of a rookery that is still extant?

Given the number of "crows" involved, there are a lot of rooks around here, far more** than there used to be, and as they all nest close together (in a small area of trees), I suppose that counts as a rookery. And it's relatively new.

A couple of days ago, they were all in the air in the early evening... not above where they nest, but high above the local shopping area. Though fewer in number, they were flying about a bit like flocks of starlings do.


Please note that I live nowhere near Wales.


** - Indeed, I recall very few crows being about a decade ago, and their number keeps growing.

 

[Ursa major]

I genuinely misread (time for new specs maybe?) the post title and I came in here to read the chat about Rockeries!

More than three decades ago, there was a senior manager at a company for which I worked whose boss was reported to have said, "If he had too heads, he could make a rockery".

I hope this helps.

​

 

[Astro Pen]

Please note that I live nowhere near Wales.


** - Indeed, I recall very few crows being about a decade ago, and their number keeps growing.

Given their rapid disappearance here, may I ask if your new arrivals have any kind of - accent?

 

[Ursa major]

Of caws, I can't....

 

[Biskit]

Oddly enough, I grew up on Rookery Road, but if there was ever actually a rookery there, they probably cut down all the trees when they built the houses (1930s I think).

 

[The Judge]

No apparent rookeries in the trees behind us, but there is one about 3 miles down the road, though thinking about it I don't recall seeing any birds flying around there recently. I'll specifically look out for them the next time we go past.

We used to have a rook visit the garden but we've not seen him at all this year -- we assume it was always the same bird as it had a trick of pecking at the window in the early morning, perhaps because he'd could see his reflection in it. We're still getting a crow (or 2 or 3) most days though. Magpies and jackdaws don't seem any more numerous than in previous years.

We are missing nuthatches, long-tailed tits and chaffinches who were all regular visitors over the last few years, as well as occasional visitors like goldfinches, and even the great tits aren't coming as much as usual. I did hear the cuckoo a couple of weeks ago, though, and heard another 2 a couple of miles away at the weekend.

 

[Montero]

I am trying to remember which motorway services it is somewhere within an hour or so of Bristol where there are a lot of rooks in the tall trees around the car park, with them all dropping in for food from motorists. Can't even remember if it is M4 or M5.

 

[Dave]

There is a park and café, both called the Rookery, at the top of Streatham Common in London. I was there at lunchtime today and there were plenty of Rooks. Someone was feeding them at the café, which wasn't very hygienic, but given the fall in numbers shown in those graphs, maybe I should let that slide. In London there are also those famous Rooks at the Tower of London, which if they leave means the end of the monarchy or some such thing.

Crows are abundant South of London and along the North Downs. Crows, Buzzards and Red Kites everywhere. Maybe not quite as many Crows as I used to see in Newcastle in my youth, but I don't think they are in danger there.

We've talked about this rise of Magpies on this forum before, but I don't see it much in London. I think it is because we have so many Ring Necked Parakeets. They do compete, and they are everywhere in London. Five on my birdfeeders all afternoon today, scaring away every other bird. They take over Woodpecker nests, and attack the nesting Grey Squirrels, and they may have "beautiful plumage" but their squawking I could do without. It's such an unnatural sound to here in the UK.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I think I have never actually seen a rook (except for pictures), because they aren't native to this part of the world. Crows and ravens, we have those, and I do enjoy them. There used to be trees in the park behind us, where many crows lived, but the park service chose to cut down those trees to put in a baseball diamond. Since then crows drop by the neighborhood occasionally (maybe for old time's sake) but these visits are disappointingly rare.