IF you are lucky to live in a place overlooking fields where rooks visit, you will know one of the most endearing qualities possessed by this glorious member of the crow family. I can summarise it best by describing a recent vision when our Derbyshire home was assailed by a powerful winter torrent.
Suddenly, the horizon went black. The trees shuddered violently. The road in front was converted to an instant river and, across the far fields, it looked as if the whole landscape were shrouded in a grey sheet like electric static on a screen. Through binoculars, however, I could still see the rooks feeding, regardless of any downpour. On they plodded across the pasture, pausing to probe for worms, as if it were nothing more than a sunlit spring morning.
Rooks, you realise, are neighbours you can depend upon. The species is spread right through Britain, from Kent and Cornwall to northernmost Scotland. In fact, some of the world’s highest densities occur in Aberdeenshire. The birds nest alongside us above many village greens or in town centres, as they do here in Buxton. If not exactly a garden familiar—and they make routine exceptions for churchyards and vicarages—they have come to occupy our busiest urban spaces, including railway, and now even airport, forecourts.
Yet it would be unwise to take rooks for granted. They are also among the most complex, consistently misrepresented birds in this country. Take one of their most straightforward aspects. ‘Rook’ is one of the shortest official titles for any British bird and also one of the oldest, appearing in Old Norse (hr c) with versions of it in continuous use across Europe, possibly for thousands of years. Even that name trades on something we misjudge.
ãã®èšäºã¯ Country Life UK ã® February 28, 2024 çã«æ²èŒãããŠããŸãã
7 æ¥éã® Magzter GOLD ç¡æãã©ã€ã¢ã«ãéå§ããŠãäœåãã®å³éžããããã¬ãã¢ã ã¹ããŒãªãŒã8,500 以äžã®éèªãæ°èã«ã¢ã¯ã»ã¹ããŠãã ããã
ãã§ã«è³Œèªè ã§ã ?  ãµã€ã³ã€ã³
ãã®èšäºã¯ Country Life UK ã® February 28, 2024 çã«æ²èŒãããŠããŸãã
7 æ¥éã® Magzter GOLD ç¡æãã©ã€ã¢ã«ãéå§ããŠãäœåãã®å³éžããããã¬ãã¢ã ã¹ããŒãªãŒã8,500 以äžã®éèªãæ°èã«ã¢ã¯ã»ã¹ããŠãã ããã
ãã§ã«è³Œèªè ã§ã? ãµã€ã³ã€ã³
Don't rain on Venus's parade
TENNIS has never been sexierâat least, that is what multiple critics of the new film Challengers are saying.
A rural reason to cheer
THERE was something particularly special for country people when one of the prestigious Kingâs Awards for Voluntary Service was presented last week.
My heart is in the Highlands
A LISTAIR MOFFATâS many books on Scottish history are distinctive for the way he weaves poetry and literature, language and personal experience into broad-sweeping studies of particular regions or themes. In his latestâ and among his most ambitious in scopeâhe juxtaposes a passage from MacMhaighstir Alasdairâs great sea poem Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill with his own account of filming a replica birlinn (Hebridean galley) as it glides into the Sound of Mull, âlarch strakes swept up to a high prowâ, saffron sail billowing, water sparkling as its oars dip and splash. Familiar from medieval tomb carvings, the birlinn is a potent symbol of the power of the Lords of the Isles.
Put it in print
Three sales furnished with the ever-rarer paper catalogues featured intriguing lots, including a North Carolina map by John Ogilby and a wine glass gibbeting Admiral Byng, the unfortunate scapegoat for the British loss of Minorca
The rake's progress
Good looks, a flair for the theatrical and an excellent marriage made John Astleyâs fortune, but also swayed âle Titien Angloisâ away from painting into a dissolute life of wine and women, with some collecting on the side
Charter me this
Thereâs a whole world out there waiting to be explored and one of the most exciting ways to see it is from the water, says Emma Love, who rounds up the best boat charters
Hey ho, hey ho, it's off to sow we go
JUNE can be a tricky month for the gardener.
Floreat Etona
The link with the school and horticulture goes back to its royal founder, finds George Plumptre on a visit to the recently restored gardens
All in good time
Two decades in the planning, The Emory, designed by Sir Richard Rogers, is open. Think of it as a sieve that retains the best of contemporary hotel-keeping and lets the empty banality flow away
Come on down, the water's fine
Ratty might have preferred a picnic, but canalside fine dining is proving the key to success for new restaurant openings in east London today, finds Gilly Hopper