Always a sure sign spring is just around the corner...noisy crows attending to their nests in the very tall trees adjoining the original building at Sir John Nelthorpe School, Grammar School Road. The trees are in what formed part of the Brigg Grammar headmaster's garden. There's footage of the very last head, H B Williams, in this very spot on the school cine film made in 1968/9 to mark the 300th anniversary of the school (re-released on video and DVD a few years ago). H B (appointed in 1959) was the final BGS 'head', comprehensive education arriving in 1976. He stayed on for a short time after that before retiring and taking holy orders.
Sign of Spring II (The Sequel) - Coming to a River Near You: Big crane lifting Glanford Boat Club members' craft back into the Ancholme.
I wonder if your crows are really rooks, Nige.
ReplyDeleteRooks flock and nest in tall trees.
These are the birdies that mass in flying dark birdie clouds that do mesmorising swoops and wobbles in the sky.
If one gets close - a rook seems to be wearing feathery short trousers and its bill is two tone grey.
Crows tend to live in small groups, usually pairs. It has a more slender beak..but of a single dark (grey) colour. It could be mistaken as a large male (black) blackbird - although a b/d has an orangy/yellow beak.
A rook's diet tends to be grain, worms and insects; a crow will eat same, but will also go for carrion and may be seen in small groups feasting on a run-over hedgehog in the road.
Both birds, as also the raven etc, belong to the same species - corvus something.