rookeries....corvids under threat..an icon of our countryside

[petervanderschoo]

Hello,

I have wonderful memories of rookeries in Sussex (Bishopstone) and they remain powerful reminders of the presence of a beautiful, resilient and intelligent bird.
Just retiring and I thought I'd construct a map of the nation's colonies in my now ample time.
Can you let me know where they are. Raising their profile as a national treasure might help preserve them.

Any historians out there? Rookeries were once a food store for countryfolk I believe.

Peter...Yorkshire

[seamusagleann]

yes i do believe they were !! the four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie were in fact rooks! folk would climb up in to the rookery and tie the young birds to their nests and the parents would keep feeding them !!

[Dorts]

Originally Posted by petervanderschoo

Hello,

I have wonderful memories of rookeries in Sussex (Bishopstone) and they remain powerful reminders of the presence of a beautiful, resilient and intelligent bird.
Just retiring and I thought I'd construct a map of the nation's colonies in my now ample time.
Can you let me know where they are. Raising their profile as a national treasure might help preserve them.

Any historians out there? Rookeries were once a food store for countryfolk I believe.
Peter...Yorkshire

Hi Peter, welcome to WAB. What a task you have set yourself in your retirement years! I just think back to where I spent most of my years in Hampshire and the great number of rookeries there were in quite a small area.

Far be it for me to tell you how to go about your task, but I wonder if you started with your county or even your immediate area. A regular follow-up in later years will be of great interest especially if combined with the number of nests at each site.

I surveyed a single tree used by Rooks for over 40 years and mapped their positions and also the height from the tree-top, also what time of year building began. An enormous amount of info was gathered, some I believe never observed before.

Nearer to your idea, I mapped Nightingales nests in a small area of N. Hants over a fifty year period, (and recorded their rapid decline).

I wish you all the best with your mammouth task and what a great resource it will be when completed.
------------------------------
Just remembered, the 1st of May was the day that country folk would push from beneath, with long poles, the young rooks from their nests for food, something I have never witnessed but have a few older friends who have!
Dorts.

[Rye]

There is a very active rookery on the boundaries of Crewe Hall which is in Crewe/Weston, Cheshire. Hundreds of corvids can be seen here every single day.

[rossy]

one at healey dell, rochdale, one at the birches, heywood, , one at heap bridge , heywood, all greater manchester, good luck with your quest, rossy.

[Tursiops2]

Originally Posted by petervanderschoo

Raising their profile as a national treasure might help preserve them.

Peter...Yorkshire

Not before time, too . A very worthwhile project, good luck.
T2

[Dragonyka]

There's one on Gorse Road near Towyn in North Wales - it's on the west side of the road in a small woodland.

[Meta menardi]

There was an active rookery near us, tall trees in an urban environment, but very close to open country. Down the trees came, and I can't figure out where the birds went.

Another one bites the dust.

[King Edward]

If you are serious about wanting to map the country's rookeries, I imagine you might want to construct some kind of website where people could input records for their area (or wherever) using a standard form and then have them show up on a national map. That would be quite an undertaking though.

[Farplace]

Theres a rookery at Eastgate-in Weardale, County Durham