Another example of nature winning through

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Everywhere these days there is bad news about the state of the natural world, and it seems to be getting worse by the day. So when I see nature fighting back it gives me a little bit of hope. Rooks generally nest communally, usually in an area of woodland or a copse of tall deciduous trees. The group of nests is known as a ‘rookery’ and the rooks return to the same nests year after year, for decades. Some rookeries have been in use for a hundred years or more. Often the rookeries are near farmland but rooks are obviously able to tolerate human activity nearby, I have noticed a large rookery next to the M4 motorway. Last week I was happy to see that rooks are moving into this motorway service station. Trees were planted in between the rows of parking spaces and although they are not very big, the rooks must have decided that they are now tall enough and several pairs were busy flying in with sticks to construct nests. I couldn’t get a good picture but there must have been a dozen nests under construction, over several trees, as the people walked to and from the cars below, most of them oblivious to what was going on. I just hope the management don’t decide they are an unacceptable nuisance and persecute them somehow. In the UK it is ‘an offence intentionally to kill, injure or take any wild bird, or take or destroy their eggs or nest, or damage a nest, while that nest is in use or being built’. But sometimes the unscrupulous just go ahead anyway and decide to risk the consequences. All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2024.