Caw! - There's Food Down 'Ere Mates

Image: © Martin Addison Taken: 5 May 2011

A Rook (Corvus frugilegus) calls to others on the grass at Duchally Resort. Rooks are foraging generalists and will eat a wide variety of food found on farms, in large gardens and by the roadside. Highly intelligent, they will solve complex problems to get to food. They are social birds, forming large colonies referred to as Rookeries - there is a large one in the trees surrounding Duchally Resort, where they share the mown lawns with groups of Jackdaws. Rooks are very common in the countryside though their numbers slumped badly in the 1970's. This has been variously put down to pesticides and the loss of Elm trees (often a preferred nesting site) to Dutch Elm Disease - we used to have a Rookery in Finchley (North London) until the Elms died. However numbers have generally increased again, although the British Trust for Ornithology reports a decrease in numbers in Scotland since 2000 and a reduction in brood size has been noted. Rooks are highly adaptable and are not currently considered to be an at risk species.

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