Birdwatch: without ash, wither rooks?

Large swathes of the Somerset Levels have no rookeries at all as ash dieback disease takes its toll on treesLike black bin bags caught in the tops of the tallest trees in the village, the rooks are back at their rookeries. Here on the Somerset Levels their habit of gathering together to breed makes them one of the most visible of all our birds. That is proving very helpful as I cycle around my parish and beyond to survey rookeries for the British Trust for Ornithology and the Somerset Ornithological Society.I usually hear rooks before I see them: uttering a volley of guttural cries, noticeably less harsh than their cousin, the carrion crow. As the nature writer Dominic Couzens puts it, a rook sounds like a crow who has been on an anger management course. Continue reading...