We're in that phase of the year when there's plenty of food about, the breeding season's over (not necessarily a given with the sparrows and goldfinches) and most of the birds are just dropping into the feeding stations for breakfast and supper. There are days when I don't see the sparrows, they'll have done a hit and run visit while I've not been looking. Ironically, the best way for me to get to see them is to leave the feeders empty, they'll queue up on the garden fence to let me know about it.
I've been worrying about rooks lately, which sounds daft once I've written it down. There have been days when I've only seen one or two on the school playing field, which ordinarily I'd not worry about but it fits into a bigger picture in seeing. When I'm out and about I'm seeing fields of post-harvest stubble that have plenty of woodpigeons, even family parties of carrion crows, but no rooks. Fields where I'd routinely see flocks of dozens this time of year have none. Where have they gone? Are pickings so thin they've had to disperse? Is there a new, distant food source that's irresistible? Has there been a population crash? I don't know. What I do know is that I've seen very few crane flies this year so I'm wondering if that's part of what's going on. I can't imagine that this year, uniquely, the rooks have eaten them all so I'm guessing that something — the weather? — has affected the survival rates at the leatherjacket phase and if that's happened perhaps it's also affected over burrowing insects.
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