A Parliament of Rooks  

If you are feeling in need of an uplifting sign of spring then take a visit to your nearest rookery. Although most bird species start to display, build nests and lay eggs in March, April or May, rooks and other members of the Corvid family are well underway by February with some starting in January. Many churchyards and cemeteries contain rookeries, situated within tall, mature trees and a great deal of fun can be had in watching the antics of the rooks. Rooks make their scruffy nests from small branches and twigs and can be seen flying in with suitable material but also pinching particularly nice bits from the neighbours!  A storm can seriously disrupt this nest building activity and send them back to the beginning with a great deal of chatter and fuss.

Rookeries may contain a few nests or sometimes up to a thousand and, once established, a rookery may last for decades or even centuries in the same location. Many churchyards and cemeteries have mature trees, often planted during the C19th where rookeries can now be found. In churchyards these rookeries may have existed earlier, in trees now no longer standing and the rooks have moved to the current tall, mature trees. It is worth taking a look at the trees in your local burial ground and considering whether a replacement rookery tree is currently growing up, ready to host the nests once the preferred tree is no longer there.

Rooks are sociable and as well as nesting together they often feed in groups, eating a wide variety of foods including invertebrates pulled from the soil by their large, strong beaks. They will also eat fruit, seeds, acorns and grain and can visit garden bird feeders, taking hold of them with their feet rather like a parrot. Mixed flocks of rooks and jackdaws can be seen flying around, calling prior to going to roost. The collective nouns for a group of rooks are a parliament, congregation or clamour!

Rooks and crows can appear quite similar until you look and listen closely. A rook has a domed forehead and pale face, caused by bare, greyish skin around the base of its beak. The beak is longer than a crows and is a pale, grey colour (except for juveniles who have a black beak). Rooks also look more dishevelled with ruffled feathers and ‘baggy trousers’ caused by leg feathers. Carrion Crows usually just called crows, by contrast are entirely black including the beak and are generally sleeker. N.B if you are in the north and west of Scotland or Ireland then the Carrion Crow is replaced by the grey and white Hooded Crow and identification is easy!

A useful tip is to count how many birds you see together. Crows tend to be more secretive and to nest singly. They are often seen in twos or threes but rarely in larger flocks unless there is a particular food source such as a recently ploughed field when you may see larger numbers. Rooks on the other hand are rarely seen alone, usually in groups or flocks. You may find the following a useful aide memoire:

If you see a rook on its own it’s a crow, if you see a crowd of crows, they’re rooks!

Both birds have a cawing call, but crows have a harsher note and tend to repeat the call three times, whilst rooks use a wider variety of sounds and pitches including some clicks and wheezing sounds. Rooks and crows belong the to Corvid family which also includes ravens, jays, magpies and choughs. Take a look at the Caring for God’s Acre Spotter’s Guides and find the one for Corvids for help in identifying them and some of the other family members.

Please let us know if you have an active rookery within your local churchyard or cemetery. You may also like to record rook nesting behaviour on the Woodland Trust Nature’s Calendar which is building long-term data on the timing of the changing seasons. Whilst you are there, take a moment to enjoy the hurly burly of the rooks at work and to think how many generations of rooks may have nested there.