Winter Jackdaw roost.

I have written about this winter Jackdaw roost here before and since then I have another remark to make about it. A few evenings ago I was walking along the Caldon Canal as it was tunring dark. As I approached Stockton Brrok, where the canal is near Greenway Hall Golf Club, I could hear the vocalisations from the rookery which is in the copse on the opposite side of the road to the golf club entrance. The birds had gathered there and were making quite a noise. As I walked along the towpath all the birds rose from what is left of last years nests, the winter storms having caused most of the nests to fall from the tree,and they flew off in the direction of the winter Jackdaw roost. Of course I can't be sure, but I suspect that those Rooks use that place in which to spend their winter nights, alongside the local Jackdaws.

On Sunday morning I managed to capture a video of the Jackdaws leaving the roost. This was just before 8am. If I happen to still be in bed as dawn arrives, and of course the time changes depending on the time of year, I can hear, through my bedroom window, the Jackdaws preparing to leave the roost. My camera is not the most expensive and so the video is not of the best quality, but it does show the birds flying from the trees and over our house. Then then appear on the roofs of the houses in my sreet. I took some photos of that after I filmed them leaving the roost. What they do is to fly towards the roofs and then land en mass in one particular spot. Then they spend the next half an hour or so flying up and landing whilst remaining as a group until they settle down in to what have become their customary nest sites. During the day they will fly off to feed, or, again as a group go to investigate some event in the bird world, perhaps to mob a cat or accompany a crow chasing a Buzzard.