Rookabilly Robberies

On Sunday 3^rd April, the Paddock Wood half marathon was in full swing and with many of the local roads closed for the race,  I walked the mile or so from my house to the entrance to Mascalls Academy…to watch the rooks  !!!

Adult Rook (Corvus frugilegus) out on a limb !

These gregarious corvids are well known for nesting together, high in the tree tops and for a few years now the main rookery in the town has been situated either side of the Maidstone Road (B2160) close to the entrances to Mascalls Academy & Mascalls Pound Farm. If I am honest it is about 200 metres outside my self-imposed recording area, but I felt it was worth writing about.

A small part of one of the rookeries.

The rookery is spread over three groups of trees in this area and currently consists of 54 nests, of which I calculate about half appear to be occupied at present. Many of the adult birds have paired up and were busy building their precarious stacks in the sky.

Now that's a big pile of sticks !

Beside the entrance to Mascalls Pound Farm

Between Mascalls Pound Farm 

& Lymons Farm House

In the school grounds.

There was lots of noise and much thieving of sticks from each other’s nests, resulting in sticks moving from nest to nest, in an effort  for each rook to try & create the greatest ‘must have’ home.. Fights sometimes broke out as different birds fought for the choicest sticks, but often a bird would wait until a couple had vacated their bijou property and then nip in and snatch a few sticks for its own nest. All great fun to watch.

"Its our home !"

I saw little sign of mating, nor egg laying, at present, but I am sure this will follow soon. Indeed there seemed to be a lot of hanging about with one of the pair trying to look macho (the male maybe) , whilst the other bird (possibly the female) got on with constructing the nest. 

On sentry duty.

In one patch of trees there was much squawking & flurry of wings as neighbour fought with the neighbour over territorial rights and infringement of invisible boundaries.

Voicing his right to stay !

In places the road surface below the rookery area has become splattered with bird poo . After a few more weeks It should be eligible for entry into the Turner prize for modern art. If an unmade bed can win I don’t see why a rookery toilet can’t be a contender for this years prize !

There is another rookery about 1Km away further south on the B2160, near the edge of Matfield and it may be that over the years the rooks swap between the different nesting sites. About 15 years ago there also used to be a small rookery on the north west corner of Foal Hurst Wood, but it is no more. I always thought that rookeries were occupied for decades, but perhaps they do also move around over time. 

Anyway in 2016 the biggest rookery in the town can be found beside the main secondary school in the town and it is arguable which may prove to be a greater seat of learning !

Scanning the horizon for a mate maybe.