Rooks.

 Many years ago I was born in Lewes where I lived for the first 22 years of my life in a house that was opposite a well known Rookery. In fact the Lewes Football Club are nicknamed The Rooks after the Lewes Rooks.

I guess that living around the birds all that time has made me slightly oblivious to them and I don't really take much notice of them even now. However, a couple of weeks ago when I was trying to photograph the Kestrel I noticed that there was a Rookery close to where I now live which was possible to photograph from the height of the tree-tops which could give an interesting perspective.

A couple of times I walked nearby to see what reaction I would get, and although the birds moved away briefly they did soon return if I stood still, so the next time I went for a walk in that direction with the telephoto lens I gave it a go. One bird in particular wasn't too concerned with me being there and I got a few shots of him by the nest. It was clear he had a full crop and when his partner turned up on the nest a bit of bonding went on with the male passing the food in his crop to her. As I was conscious that some of the birds were still keeping the far side of the trees I then left them to it. A very quick 5 minute session at most to minimise any disturbance, but a very interesting one.

Male Rook waiting for his partner.

Male sharing his crop.

Female Rook telling him how horrible it tasted!!