British Birds

black back and white breast,

the tail and wings tinged with iridescent greens, blues and purples when seen at close quarters.

In folklore it has associations with witchcraft and bad luck.

The Jackdaw is much mentioned in folklore.

But the crow is actually one of Britain’s most intelligent animals, adapting ingeniously to the man-made environment.

Easy to characterise as unpleasant because they are black and scavenge for dead meat, the collective noun for these birds is a murder of crows!

Unlike the Rook which it so closely resembles, the Carrion or Hooded Crow is a solitary bird, nesting and feeding alone or in close family groups – very occasionally foraging in small gangs, or flocks of a few hundred.

grey back with iridescent purple and green;

surprisingly rounded wings,

Close up, the black of the adult bird has a purple sheen to it. Thigh feathers of both adults and juveniles are long and shaggy, giving them a baggy-trousered look.