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Crow Country by Mark Cocker (7-Aug-2008) Paperback
One night Mark Cocker followed the roiling, deafening flock of rooks and jackdaws which regularly passed over his Norfolk home on their way to roost in the Yare valley. From the moment he watched the multitudes blossom as a mysterious dark flower above the night woods, these gloriously commonplace birds were unsheathed entirely from their ordinariness. They became for Cocker a fixation and a way of life.
Cocker goes in search of them, journeying from the cavernous, deadened heartland of South England to the hills of Dumfriesshire, experiencing spectacular failures alongside magical successes and epiphanies. Step by step he uncovers the complexities of the birds' inner lives, the unforeseen richness hidden in the raucous crow song he calls 'our landscape made audible'.
Crow Country is a prose poem in a long tradition of English pastoral writing. It is also a reminder that 'Crow Country' is not 'ours': it is a landscape which we cohabit with thousands of other species, and these richly complex fellowships cannot be valued too highly.
Cocker goes in search of them, journeying from the cavernous, deadened heartland of South England to the hills of Dumfriesshire, experiencing spectacular failures alongside magical successes and epiphanies. Step by step he uncovers the complexities of the birds' inner lives, the unforeseen richness hidden in the raucous crow song he calls 'our landscape made audible'.
Crow Country is a prose poem in a long tradition of English pastoral writing. It is also a reminder that 'Crow Country' is not 'ours': it is a landscape which we cohabit with thousands of other species, and these richly complex fellowships cannot be valued too highly.
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First published August 2, 2007
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September 4, 2019City born and raised as I am, books like this which give a sense of the rich complexity of the lives of a couple of the creatures that we share our country with, in this case the Corvid family of Crows, Ravens and Rooks are hugely valuable. There's a lot here that is enjoyable as Cocker travels in the UK and offers up more about the lives and habits of the Corvids. It's a portrait of a world as complete and involved as our own but that sits alongside us, separate and only glimpsed at.
Cocker begins in the kind of landscape that I would think of as unpromising, rural Norfolk, where he focuses in on a raucous rook colony that rambunctiously roosts near his home. In the book this provides the entry point to explore the world of Rooks and Crows. Ravens are comparatively rare in the UK and so don't get as much of a look in.
Crows are generally solitary or fly about in a family group. Rooks on the other hand are the gregarious birds of a feather who flock together and so from this book I learnt that where's there's a rook, that's a crow and where's there's crows, those are rooks.
For me reading this has added to my appreciation of the landscape. A field crowded with black feathered birds grubbing around now has a meaning that it didn't have for me before and lodged in my memory is Cocker turning the corner on out of the way roads to find huge rook colonies cawing about in the trees.
Cocker begins in the kind of landscape that I would think of as unpromising, rural Norfolk, where he focuses in on a raucous rook colony that rambunctiously roosts near his home. In the book this provides the entry point to explore the world of Rooks and Crows. Ravens are comparatively rare in the UK and so don't get as much of a look in.
Crows are generally solitary or fly about in a family group. Rooks on the other hand are the gregarious birds of a feather who flock together and so from this book I learnt that where's there's a rook, that's a crow and where's there's crows, those are rooks.
For me reading this has added to my appreciation of the landscape. A field crowded with black feathered birds grubbing around now has a meaning that it didn't have for me before and lodged in my memory is Cocker turning the corner on out of the way roads to find huge rook colonies cawing about in the trees.
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April 30, 2024Discursive read about a nature writer's obsession with his local crows and rooks in Norfolk. I don't know if I learned a huge amount but nicely written and absolutely makes you want to go and watch rooks roosting at the end of the day.
February 24, 2020
Sublime nature writing. Mark Cocker writes of his absorption with corvids, particularly rooks. This many-layered book explores the birds themselves, their environment, their behaviour, their history, the history and geology of their environment, the nature and wonder of absorption.
Towards the end of the book, Cocker quotes another naturalist, Edward Wilson, who wrote,
To share some of Cocker’s wonder, look up Rooks and Jackdaws at Buckenham Carrs 2 (if the link doesn’t work, it’s on YouTube) and see tens of thousands of birds gathering together to roost at dusk on the Norfolk Broads. It’s an awesome sight.
This is one of those few books I would give 6 stars if it was possible.
Towards the end of the book, Cocker quotes another naturalist, Edward Wilson, who wrote,
Humanity is exalted not because we are far above other living creatures, but because knowing them well elevates the very concept of life.Hear, hear!
To share some of Cocker’s wonder, look up Rooks and Jackdaws at Buckenham Carrs 2 (if the link doesn’t work, it’s on YouTube) and see tens of thousands of birds gathering together to roost at dusk on the Norfolk Broads. It’s an awesome sight.
This is one of those few books I would give 6 stars if it was possible.
December 31, 2014
This is a book more about a personal, anecdotal, observational understanding of crows than a scientific one. It tells us, perhaps, as much about Cocker as about the corvids. It’s written in a lyrical sort of way, with plenty of Cocker’s own sense of wonder communicating itself through his breathless and admiring descriptions. I think he’s achieved what he set out to do, in that I want to go out now and find a rookery, watch some jackdaws, learn the differences between all the British corvids and their calls. It goes to show that you don’t just catch people’s interest with exotic birds: that there’s a lot of richness and mystery right under our noses.
I liked that he included references to crows in literature and imagination, the word-of-mouth descriptions of events like a rook’s parliament, etc. He indicates where this does seem likely to be mythical, and likewise where it might be rooted in fact, so that overall you get an image of the bird as we imagine it as well as the real creature.
I wonder if anyone who has read The Dark is Rising can read this book too without thinking about those attacking rooks, the birds of the Dark, and what Cocker would make of them…
I liked that he included references to crows in literature and imagination, the word-of-mouth descriptions of events like a rook’s parliament, etc. He indicates where this does seem likely to be mythical, and likewise where it might be rooted in fact, so that overall you get an image of the bird as we imagine it as well as the real creature.
I wonder if anyone who has read The Dark is Rising can read this book too without thinking about those attacking rooks, the birds of the Dark, and what Cocker would make of them…
May 21, 2020
A beautifully poetic book about corvids that brims with contagious enthusiasm.
I like that it's not overly scientific, but instead charts Mark's background building interest in corvids and his move to the South East coast where he is able to "study" and admire them daily.
I absolutely love corvids of all kinds and consider them intelligent, creative, loving yet fiercely territorial (I have seen crows fighting off and chasing rather languid kites who seem to bear the crows no harm!)
A fabulously interesting read which I devoured today in the garden in the sunshine with a background chorus of two lovely crows!
I like that it's not overly scientific, but instead charts Mark's background building interest in corvids and his move to the South East coast where he is able to "study" and admire them daily.
I absolutely love corvids of all kinds and consider them intelligent, creative, loving yet fiercely territorial (I have seen crows fighting off and chasing rather languid kites who seem to bear the crows no harm!)
A fabulously interesting read which I devoured today in the garden in the sunshine with a background chorus of two lovely crows!
May 11, 2018
My reason for reading this book is that where I work we have a rookery living in a few of our amazing trees, it is quite small, I think about300 birds. I am always walking past the trees looking upwards with me mouth wide open watching them playing together and scaring off Red Kites. I thought it was time to learn a bit more.
This book is not quite what I expected, I thought it was going to just be some info about birds and the authors experiences in watching the birds, it is that and more. There is so much history of the birds included and even on the watchers themselves. This is probably the first book I read that made me realise that nature books tell a story and is not just a source of information.
I have learnt a lot in reading this book, I can now identify the birds and know some of the things they do. During the winter months I am looking forward to being at work as dusk arrives, I will be out watching to see them do their roosting flights. (I have since seen this, truly amazing spectacle.)
A fantastic book that I really enjoyed reading.
Book review is here> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...
This book is not quite what I expected, I thought it was going to just be some info about birds and the authors experiences in watching the birds, it is that and more. There is so much history of the birds included and even on the watchers themselves. This is probably the first book I read that made me realise that nature books tell a story and is not just a source of information.
I have learnt a lot in reading this book, I can now identify the birds and know some of the things they do. During the winter months I am looking forward to being at work as dusk arrives, I will be out watching to see them do their roosting flights. (I have since seen this, truly amazing spectacle.)
A fantastic book that I really enjoyed reading.
Book review is here> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...
July 4, 2025
'Crow Country' (2007) by Mark Cocker - subtitled A Meditation on Birds, Landscape and Nature.
This is primarily a story of obsession, or monomania as it were, where Cocker recounts the story of his family's move to rural Norfolk and The Yare Valley, along with his burgeoning and rapidly growing fascination nee fixation with all things Rook - primarily their rookeries and their roosts.
It's an interesting and well written by Cocker, which also covers the roosting behaviour of other birds as well as a look at other key writers sharing similar avian obsessions. Cocker also goes someway at least to attempting to examine how and why an obsession such as his should come into being.
Well written and definitely worth a read for those of us with an interest in birds in general and corvids in particular.
This is primarily a story of obsession, or monomania as it were, where Cocker recounts the story of his family's move to rural Norfolk and The Yare Valley, along with his burgeoning and rapidly growing fascination nee fixation with all things Rook - primarily their rookeries and their roosts.
It's an interesting and well written by Cocker, which also covers the roosting behaviour of other birds as well as a look at other key writers sharing similar avian obsessions. Cocker also goes someway at least to attempting to examine how and why an obsession such as his should come into being.
Well written and definitely worth a read for those of us with an interest in birds in general and corvids in particular.
May 5, 2017
Crows are rather unceremoniously overlooked since they are pretty much a fixture in our daily lives. Considering the abundance of numbers and their sharp intelligence it might only be a matter of time before they decide to take over the world. Step out of the house for a moment and look around, chances are that you would see a crow (or a corvid) somewhere around you. The bird has pretty much accustomed itself completely with life in thriving cities and remote hamlets alike. It was on the way back from work a couple of days back that I noticed that there is a crow roost on a tree right in the middle of a crowded thoroughfare in my city. By the looks of it, they barely bat an eyelid at all the commotion happening on the ground below. Now take the life of this sturdy bird and add an impassioned British author to the mix and there where get to the ground of Mark Cocker’s book. His is a book length appreciation of the rook and the jackdaw which are prominent among Britain’s corvid population.
This is not a book that lavishes a great deal of attention on the life of corvids, the focus is rather narrow as it restricts itself to the roosting behaviour of the birds. There was this time when I was driving along a road in rural Kerala during the late evening. The road was winding through rubber plantations with the occasional house dotting the landscape and as I come around a bend on the road, a sound like the murmur of a distant ocean comes in through the open windows. In a few seconds it becomes clearer as the clamour of crows roosting for the night. In the trees lining the roads was a roost the size of which I had not seen until then and while it was fascinating to look up at it all, I left pretty quickly to avoid turning the outside of the car to a gooey mess of droppings. The whole of this book is about evenings like this and also about the men and women who have set aside their lives for ornithology (especially around corvids). The author is obsessed with observing rooks and jackdaws and how they roost. He travels the length and breadth of rural England to observe and record what he sees. The book moves back and forth between the author’s present day obsession and the notes and observation by acclaimed ornithologists on rooks. There is within these pages a lot of anecdotal information (historic and otherwise) on the abundance of rooks and their lives entwined with humans.
The impassioned observation by the author also means that he goes into the nitty-gritties of bird watching and quite so often I did come across various parts of the narrative wherein the obsession shines through clearly and at the expense of objectivity. I was looking for a book that went into the lives of corvids but then this was only about one aspect of their lives and not much more.
Recommended if you like corvids else it is a drag.
This is not a book that lavishes a great deal of attention on the life of corvids, the focus is rather narrow as it restricts itself to the roosting behaviour of the birds. There was this time when I was driving along a road in rural Kerala during the late evening. The road was winding through rubber plantations with the occasional house dotting the landscape and as I come around a bend on the road, a sound like the murmur of a distant ocean comes in through the open windows. In a few seconds it becomes clearer as the clamour of crows roosting for the night. In the trees lining the roads was a roost the size of which I had not seen until then and while it was fascinating to look up at it all, I left pretty quickly to avoid turning the outside of the car to a gooey mess of droppings. The whole of this book is about evenings like this and also about the men and women who have set aside their lives for ornithology (especially around corvids). The author is obsessed with observing rooks and jackdaws and how they roost. He travels the length and breadth of rural England to observe and record what he sees. The book moves back and forth between the author’s present day obsession and the notes and observation by acclaimed ornithologists on rooks. There is within these pages a lot of anecdotal information (historic and otherwise) on the abundance of rooks and their lives entwined with humans.
The impassioned observation by the author also means that he goes into the nitty-gritties of bird watching and quite so often I did come across various parts of the narrative wherein the obsession shines through clearly and at the expense of objectivity. I was looking for a book that went into the lives of corvids but then this was only about one aspect of their lives and not much more.
Recommended if you like corvids else it is a drag.
January 28, 2010
A book to read slowly, to savour each and every chapter. And still I’m sad to reach the end.
Cocker is not afraid to share his passion. He writes poetic prose to paint the bird filled scenes that have fired his interest. (Other readers criticised the authorial dominance throughout, but that was its strength for me)
I liked the way he offered myths and misunderstandings alongside hard facts.
In reading about the Cocker’s rooks and crows I learned a lot about myself too. There are anecdotes and images within that I’ll never forget. Like the ones who sung for no other reason than that the end of a harsh winter was in sight.
It now feels impossible not to feel thrilled when looking at the sky and noticing dark birds among the white.
Cocker is not afraid to share his passion. He writes poetic prose to paint the bird filled scenes that have fired his interest. (Other readers criticised the authorial dominance throughout, but that was its strength for me)
I liked the way he offered myths and misunderstandings alongside hard facts.
In reading about the Cocker’s rooks and crows I learned a lot about myself too. There are anecdotes and images within that I’ll never forget. Like the ones who sung for no other reason than that the end of a harsh winter was in sight.
It now feels impossible not to feel thrilled when looking at the sky and noticing dark birds among the white.
April 19, 2017
Soporific and short and all about rooks. A good book for early bedtimes. I started Crow Country (~215 pp) at about the same time I started David Copperfield (~900 pp). This was an interesting pairing for a few reasons: 1. Turns out Crow Country is also Copperfield Country—the Yare Valley and Norfolk Broads near Great Yarmouth. Both books depict the landscape in vastly different ways. 2. David Copperfield's childhood home was called The Rookery, BUT there are no rooks, ha! 3. Copperfield never comes up in Crow Country, which I found surprising for some reason. 4. I finished Copperfield weeks ago. :/ 5. I don't think birding is my thing, but I do love crows. I'm not a huge fan of Dickens, but I seem to read him at least once per year. Some things in this world are highly persistent.
February 20, 2014
A lovely meditation on one of England's most common birds, highlighting the richness that can come from really paying attention. Enough to have me ready to dust the binoculars off on the weekend and go wandering the Merri Creek.
February 24, 2025
High-quality comfort food, for me. Some beautiful writing and some lovely sentiments. The title is perhaps misleading: it should have been called "Rook and Roost," as the book is not really about crows (or, rather, rooks) themselves but about the two main sites of their social lives. I found the idea of the rook and roost to be quite compelling: these home-sites to which a creature is mysteriously and repeatedly drawn.
February 27, 2022
Shouldn’t have bought it, my mistake.
I thought Vintage “The Birds and the Bees” series were for a general reader, but this book in particular was not. I am sure bird lovers would appreciate it, because there are a lot of facts, numbers and names. I like nature writing for its atmosphere and beautiful poetical descriptions, not for numbers. I found “Crow Country” dry and pretty boring.
I thought Vintage “The Birds and the Bees” series were for a general reader, but this book in particular was not. I am sure bird lovers would appreciate it, because there are a lot of facts, numbers and names. I like nature writing for its atmosphere and beautiful poetical descriptions, not for numbers. I found “Crow Country” dry and pretty boring.
January 24, 2023
I'm just so fascinated with crows, and ravens... if you share my passion, definitely read this book!
July 24, 2016
A long ellipse of shapes, ragged and playful, strung out across the valley for perhaps half a kilometre, rides the uplift from the north wind directly towards my location. The birds, rooks and jackdaws heading to their evening roost, don't materialise gradually -- a vague blur slowly taking shape -- they tunnel into view as if suddenly breaking through a membrane. One moment they aren't visible. Then they are, and I track their course to the great skirt of stubble flowing down below me ...
A short paragraph from near the beginning of this 'meditation' includes much of what I loved about this book: the prose poetry in the language, the evocation of a moment in time and the willingness to share a worthy obsession. Mark Cocker describes himself as author, naturalist and environmental activist (in that order) but I liked the way he melded all those roles into a seamless whole in producing the eighteen chapters of this book. There's some autobiography here, there's also travel writing, science, historical perspective, literary allusions, potted biographies of contemporaries and predecessors who have laboured in this field. And yet he wears much of this learning and experience lightly, inviting the reader into the warm glow of campfire anecdotes mingling with facts and figures.
Cocker's focus is the Norfolk Broads, in the triangle between Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Beccles, with a bulge extending towards Lowestoft. The rivers Waveney and Yare, which flow together before heading to the sea at Great Yarmouth, have provided the habitat for birds of all descriptions for generations; probably many of these avian creatures have been here since the end of the Ice Age.
The author's obsession with corvids -- rooks in particular -- is hugely satisfied by the presence of significant flocks of these sociable birds. He charts their ebb and flow, both daily from and back to their roosts as well as seasonally between roosts and rookeries where their young are raised. He discusses their habits, how they compare with roosts in Cornwall or Dumfriesshire, any similarity with other corvids such as ravens; he also credits other ornithologists, both professional and amateur, when they've added to the store of knowledge; and he details rook appearances in literature, folklore and popular culture. As an example of folk tradition merging with modern popular culture he even quotes from the lyrics of 'Rook', a song on rock band XTC's 1982 album Nonsuch (a record for which my violist daughter was a session musician): "Rook, rook / Read from your book / Who murders who and where is the treasure hid? ... Rook, rook / Gaze in the brook / If there's a secret can I be part of it?"
One of things that endeared me to this reissue of Crow Country (first published nine years before) was the delightful and classy all-over fold-out cover Vintage Classics had commissioned from the Timorous Beasties studio to a design by Suzanne Dean: as well as a handsome rook it features plant tendrils, flowers and wildlife as could be found in, say, a Victorian naturalist's notebook. But it is what's within the covers that counts, and I for one was enlightened, entertained and enervated by what I read. You may be too.
http://wp.me/s2oNj1-rook
October 22, 2017
Since I'm a corvophile, I'm biased, but I absolutely love this book. It's British, so what we call crows*, he calls rooks. Also, only in Britain, jackdaws accompany rooks to their nightly roost to the rookeries. The author's passion for these birds (and for life) comes through in every sentence. I liked learning that in the 1800s people sought out rookeries and built their mansions close to them. I liked that in Nazi Germany, the POWs published a paper of their observations counting crows flying over their camp on their way to a rookery. Interestingly, in no place did the word "murder" come up.
BBC Nature: Dawn and Dusk Spectacular
* American crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
Rook Corvus frugilegus
Jackdaw Corvus monedula
BBC Nature: Dawn and Dusk Spectacular
* American crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
Rook Corvus frugilegus
Jackdaw Corvus monedula
January 14, 2025
Why didn’t he call it rook country? It’s basically about counting rooks.
Not as good as everyone makes it out to be, and boy is this a lauded book. I got rather bored, and this is coming from someone who absolutely loves jackdaws and rooks. I can’t really explain why, I think it’s just his style and the long histories of rook counting. Fortunately most people seem to love it. Three stars for his passion and the years of rook counting, it’s better than a desk job.
Not as good as everyone makes it out to be, and boy is this a lauded book. I got rather bored, and this is coming from someone who absolutely loves jackdaws and rooks. I can’t really explain why, I think it’s just his style and the long histories of rook counting. Fortunately most people seem to love it. Three stars for his passion and the years of rook counting, it’s better than a desk job.
didnt-finish
June 21, 2021DNF @ 37%.
I give up. I really wanted to like this but most of the time I was really bored. I think this would've worked better for me if it had illustrations (, videos, sound clips) or maybe if I actually knew the area Cocker describes in minute detail. Without it the text felt dry, neither thrilling nor personal enough to pull me in.
I give up. I really wanted to like this but most of the time I was really bored. I think this would've worked better for me if it had illustrations (, videos, sound clips) or maybe if I actually knew the area Cocker describes in minute detail. Without it the text felt dry, neither thrilling nor personal enough to pull me in.
August 18, 2019
Mark Cocker writes beautifully and lovingly about the countryside, both in Norfolk and elsewhere, and in particular about his obsession with corvids. He makes his case for this group of birds with intelligence and sympathy. They are indeed some of the most engaging and interesting creatures. But then I suspect most are, if you like studying them.
I enjoyed reading the book, although I occasionally got distracted by some of the prose. I noticed early on that a beautifully scripted passage could become carried away by words; more gorgeous words evolved into curlicues of imagination, wafting upwards like the chitinous wings of a dragonfly. While this gave me pause to admire at first, I found it jarring later. The trouble was that I didn’t know where this book was going. After a while, describing his search to follow more ancient rooks to their roosts or rookeries (these are two different functional spaces for rooks), he took us into the history of birding. Within each single chapter we would suddenly switch between dry narrative and effulgent flights of evocative description.
So, in spite of it being supremely well researched, both academically and geographically, I risked losing patience with it, until it got back in the end to discussion of the rooks’ activity near his home. I wondered whether the simple mechanism of a chapter heading, rather than just the number, would have solved my problem. I think the general view of my bookclub echoed my feelings.
Crow Country is beautifully written and researched, provides wonderful insight into the birds themselves, and also to birding and birders, and is well worth reading.
I enjoyed reading the book, although I occasionally got distracted by some of the prose. I noticed early on that a beautifully scripted passage could become carried away by words; more gorgeous words evolved into curlicues of imagination, wafting upwards like the chitinous wings of a dragonfly. While this gave me pause to admire at first, I found it jarring later. The trouble was that I didn’t know where this book was going. After a while, describing his search to follow more ancient rooks to their roosts or rookeries (these are two different functional spaces for rooks), he took us into the history of birding. Within each single chapter we would suddenly switch between dry narrative and effulgent flights of evocative description.
So, in spite of it being supremely well researched, both academically and geographically, I risked losing patience with it, until it got back in the end to discussion of the rooks’ activity near his home. I wondered whether the simple mechanism of a chapter heading, rather than just the number, would have solved my problem. I think the general view of my bookclub echoed my feelings.
Crow Country is beautifully written and researched, provides wonderful insight into the birds themselves, and also to birding and birders, and is well worth reading.
September 13, 2015
Is this book a natural history? Is it an autobiography? Is it a prose poem? Well, in fact it's all three, and sometimes all at once. In this book, we learn about Mark Cocker's developing fascination with all members of the crow family, as he moves from innner city Norwich to the countryside, and quite simply, gets to see more corvids. He indulges in lyrical descriptions of their movements, follows research projects of his own devising, travels and reads voraciously in search of more information about his new love, and engages his readers as he does so. A magical book.
October 22, 2019
Cocker writes sensitively about nature as well as people. He begins (5) by saying this book is about MOMENT of mass flight. He returns to the subject of why he writes in his final chapter. Not only why he wrote this book but why he does what he does. He clearly feels sensitive about his interests, which he says verges on obsession. He recalls being called a "sissy," a sting that persists. "Why is it that people who are absorbed by something are seen as sad" (171). I am not sure I need his justification; I applaud people's interests. Why would an interest in studying bird habits, rookeries, and roosts require more explanation than following a particular band, studying craft cocktails, or undertaking pub crawls for the best beer? I guess I'm of his tribe, a geeky bookworm if not a birder. He justifies his interest (184-6), writing about others compulsive study of the same subject. I found that interesting. His conclusion--that the compulsion stems from curiosity and a love of life--may not convince me. But he makes his case beautifully to a sympathetic ear.
186-7 "At its fullest, studying the life of another living creature is a way of engaging all of your faculties. In short, it's a way of being intensely alive, and recognizing that you are so. At the same time it is a form of valuing life and of appreciating the/ fundamental tenet of all ecology: that every thing is connected to everything else."
Only connect, advise that speaks to me.
12 "Migration, in a sense, is a miracle not of huge distances but of small places."
13 "When humans move house, they don't migrate. They shown into turmoil."[He's just moved.]
46 "Green without relief is unnatural."
As I often say, I wish he had a map. There is a small map in the introductory pages, but I wanted bigger and more detailed. I guess I'l have to get the OS maps he's using. (Christmas is coming. I know what I'll ask Mom for.) Pages 21-2 he talks about needing a map for the Yare Valley as he's never needed one before. For him, the map becomes "an abstract representation of the mental state induced by walking around the fields themselves."
67 He carries a small flint in his pocket. 69 "the whole history of the landscape in my pocket"
73 "to project a sense of the past upon a geographical place the human imagination requires something 3D."
87 Cocker is a hunter gatherer, "foraging for words"
Edward Thoms poem Thaw
120 Cocker's sometimes jealous of those for whom "facts don't weigh them down." I get that, but I like facts.
192 "from the memory to the moment"
47 He undertakes many "fruitlessly productive excursions"
192 Touching his flint and pondering his observations: "it is impossible to make something as hard and enduring as this jewel in my hand. Nor can I recereate anything as beautiful or perfect as this blue-and-apricot crow morning by the Yare." But he tried in this book. I thank him. I have lots to study.
186-7 "At its fullest, studying the life of another living creature is a way of engaging all of your faculties. In short, it's a way of being intensely alive, and recognizing that you are so. At the same time it is a form of valuing life and of appreciating the/ fundamental tenet of all ecology: that every thing is connected to everything else."
Only connect, advise that speaks to me.
12 "Migration, in a sense, is a miracle not of huge distances but of small places."
13 "When humans move house, they don't migrate. They shown into turmoil."[He's just moved.]
46 "Green without relief is unnatural."
As I often say, I wish he had a map. There is a small map in the introductory pages, but I wanted bigger and more detailed. I guess I'l have to get the OS maps he's using. (Christmas is coming. I know what I'll ask Mom for.) Pages 21-2 he talks about needing a map for the Yare Valley as he's never needed one before. For him, the map becomes "an abstract representation of the mental state induced by walking around the fields themselves."
67 He carries a small flint in his pocket. 69 "the whole history of the landscape in my pocket"
73 "to project a sense of the past upon a geographical place the human imagination requires something 3D."
87 Cocker is a hunter gatherer, "foraging for words"
Edward Thoms poem Thaw
120 Cocker's sometimes jealous of those for whom "facts don't weigh them down." I get that, but I like facts.
192 "from the memory to the moment"
47 He undertakes many "fruitlessly productive excursions"
192 Touching his flint and pondering his observations: "it is impossible to make something as hard and enduring as this jewel in my hand. Nor can I recereate anything as beautiful or perfect as this blue-and-apricot crow morning by the Yare." But he tried in this book. I thank him. I have lots to study.
August 18, 2023
"Rooks and jackdaws are both members of the same bird family. To ornithologists the group is known as the corvids, to the layperson they are 'crows'. But to Mark Cooper these two species have become a fixation and a way of life.
"When he moved with his family to a rundown cottage in the Norfolk Broads, he acquired first a naturalist's perfect home in the countryside, then the keys to a secret landscape. Twice a day flight-lines of rooks and jackdaws pass over the house on their way to a roost in the Yare Valley. Following them down to the river one winter's night, the author discovered a roiling, deafening flock of birds which rises at its peak to 40,000. From the moment he watched the multitudes blossom as a mysterious dark flower above the night woods, the gloriously commonplace birds were unsheathed entirely from their ordinariness.
"Cocker goes in search of them, journeying from the cavernous, deadened heartland of South England to the hills of Dumfriesshire, experiencing spectacular failures alongside magical successes and epiphanies. Step by step he pieces together the complexities of the birds' inner lives, the historical depth of the British relationship with the rook and the unforeseen richness hidden in that sombre voice, a raucous crow song that he calls 'our landscape made audible'.
"Crow Country is a prose poem in a long tradition of English pastoral writing. It is also a celebration of the Norfolk countryside, of its oceanic flatness, its immense skies and of the human intimacies which have shaped it from generation to generation. Yet the book is also a powerful restatement of the central importance of nature in human affairs. It asks us to recall that 'Crow Country' is not 'ours'. It's a landscape which we cohabit with thousands of other species and is all the richer for these complex fellowships."
~~front flap
To be honest, I didn't enjoy this book very much. I like corvids (especially the raven) so I thought I would appreciate this book. And I do, to a certain extent. It's more that I couldn't connect with what I presume is "official" ornithological language, could visualize the spaces he was talking about, couldn't visualize the roost vis-a-vis the rookery, etc. The book is obviously a great breakthrough in the knowledge of crows and jackdaws, but it wasn't the book for me.
"When he moved with his family to a rundown cottage in the Norfolk Broads, he acquired first a naturalist's perfect home in the countryside, then the keys to a secret landscape. Twice a day flight-lines of rooks and jackdaws pass over the house on their way to a roost in the Yare Valley. Following them down to the river one winter's night, the author discovered a roiling, deafening flock of birds which rises at its peak to 40,000. From the moment he watched the multitudes blossom as a mysterious dark flower above the night woods, the gloriously commonplace birds were unsheathed entirely from their ordinariness.
"Cocker goes in search of them, journeying from the cavernous, deadened heartland of South England to the hills of Dumfriesshire, experiencing spectacular failures alongside magical successes and epiphanies. Step by step he pieces together the complexities of the birds' inner lives, the historical depth of the British relationship with the rook and the unforeseen richness hidden in that sombre voice, a raucous crow song that he calls 'our landscape made audible'.
"Crow Country is a prose poem in a long tradition of English pastoral writing. It is also a celebration of the Norfolk countryside, of its oceanic flatness, its immense skies and of the human intimacies which have shaped it from generation to generation. Yet the book is also a powerful restatement of the central importance of nature in human affairs. It asks us to recall that 'Crow Country' is not 'ours'. It's a landscape which we cohabit with thousands of other species and is all the richer for these complex fellowships."
~~front flap
To be honest, I didn't enjoy this book very much. I like corvids (especially the raven) so I thought I would appreciate this book. And I do, to a certain extent. It's more that I couldn't connect with what I presume is "official" ornithological language, could visualize the spaces he was talking about, couldn't visualize the roost vis-a-vis the rookery, etc. The book is obviously a great breakthrough in the knowledge of crows and jackdaws, but it wasn't the book for me.
June 4, 2024
Somebody famous says somewhere something like this: someone who is interested in something is always interesting.
To me, people who are interested in unlikely subjects are even more interesting. Perhaps that's because I'm like that myself. For Mark Cocker, in this book at least, it's crows.
But he's just so clever at looking at everything. The crows are the centre, but everything connects. I remember a beautiful description of a mass of grass, for example, the type called Yorkshire Fog, which I have only just learned to recognise and name. This is what he says about it, in passing:
"The fields on the marsh give rise to a great bed of Yorkshire fog, a grass species that turns steadily over June and July from a horizon of soda-cream white to a soft purple then back to a desiccated tone that's almost exactly the same colour as a lioness's flanks. Yorkshire fog seldom grabs the attention. Summer seems to lie upon it as on a great couch, whie its muted tones appeal to a deeper layer of consciousness and each year's fresh crop is laden with half-buried memories from all the summers I've ever known."
It's a long time since I've seen a lioness, and that was in the zoo, but I have seen and loved Yorkshire fog. And now I see it more clearly. Like much else here. It's all about seeing. Seeing in a way that makes you a part of it all. There is so much all round us just to see and watch, just to take in.
Amazing really. The author is full of patient wonder and wants to share it. If you're open to that, no book could be more welcoming.
To me, people who are interested in unlikely subjects are even more interesting. Perhaps that's because I'm like that myself. For Mark Cocker, in this book at least, it's crows.
But he's just so clever at looking at everything. The crows are the centre, but everything connects. I remember a beautiful description of a mass of grass, for example, the type called Yorkshire Fog, which I have only just learned to recognise and name. This is what he says about it, in passing:
"The fields on the marsh give rise to a great bed of Yorkshire fog, a grass species that turns steadily over June and July from a horizon of soda-cream white to a soft purple then back to a desiccated tone that's almost exactly the same colour as a lioness's flanks. Yorkshire fog seldom grabs the attention. Summer seems to lie upon it as on a great couch, whie its muted tones appeal to a deeper layer of consciousness and each year's fresh crop is laden with half-buried memories from all the summers I've ever known."
It's a long time since I've seen a lioness, and that was in the zoo, but I have seen and loved Yorkshire fog. And now I see it more clearly. Like much else here. It's all about seeing. Seeing in a way that makes you a part of it all. There is so much all round us just to see and watch, just to take in.
Amazing really. The author is full of patient wonder and wants to share it. If you're open to that, no book could be more welcoming.
June 9, 2020
I read this book to learn about crows so that I might depict them accurately in a novel I am writing. The book was useful but with reservations. it is primarily about observations in the UK, which suited me. It clarifies that there are several UK crow species and that "crow" is a lay term for the corvid family. There was relatively little coverage of medieval attitudes to crows eg "a murder of crows" and it tended to be scattered throughout the book whereas it might have been concentrated near the start as scientific descriptions often start that way. David Attenborough is at pains to keep the focus on the animals he describes but this book has sections that are more about bird watchers than crows - even specifically crow watchers in certain localities, which may interest birdwatchers, but I found tedious. Another gripe is that despite having carefully studied the book with a highlighter and making written notes, I still am going to have to check elsewhere on the basic issues differentiating rookeries from roosts, crucial to understanding rooks, Britains commonest crow. Another more tangible example of unclear/confused presentation is that in one section it describes a historical roost that was estimated at 50,000 rooks, which I interpreted as "largest on record" but no, a relatively recent one of 65,000 was later mentioned. Overall, again, recommended but with reservations
March 1, 2025
Corvids in the UK: rooks, jackdaws, magpies, jays, ravens and crows - and probably in this order - have fascinated me for years. However, this book…
It didn’t start well. The first chapter, which many reviewers found “poetic” or “lyrically written”, I found just a bit fussy in style. Then followed a whole chapter about his house purchase and move, a mundane account which didn’t warrant more than a paragraph or two in a book on crows. I was likely too prejudiced from this point on and didn’t find much of interest to redeem it thereafter. Too much written about the writer, I felt, and not enough about crows (rooks, actually). I gave it my best for two-thirds then decided to invoke my rule: if it’s not entertaining or interesting, just give up.
The important thing to tell is it’s not a science book; an ornithology of corvids or extensive scientific study on the birds. It’s more a collection of lay observations, anecdotes, a few literary excerpts, including poems, and folklore beliefs. It was my error to think otherwise; I should have read the blurb more carefully and I might have looked also into the author’s academic background. If you like bucolic and naturalist observations recounted in a florid style as non-fiction, this may be for you. It isn’t for me.
Two stars, I think, as there was one or two facts of interest and I liked some of the literary excerpts.
It didn’t start well. The first chapter, which many reviewers found “poetic” or “lyrically written”, I found just a bit fussy in style. Then followed a whole chapter about his house purchase and move, a mundane account which didn’t warrant more than a paragraph or two in a book on crows. I was likely too prejudiced from this point on and didn’t find much of interest to redeem it thereafter. Too much written about the writer, I felt, and not enough about crows (rooks, actually). I gave it my best for two-thirds then decided to invoke my rule: if it’s not entertaining or interesting, just give up.
The important thing to tell is it’s not a science book; an ornithology of corvids or extensive scientific study on the birds. It’s more a collection of lay observations, anecdotes, a few literary excerpts, including poems, and folklore beliefs. It was my error to think otherwise; I should have read the blurb more carefully and I might have looked also into the author’s academic background. If you like bucolic and naturalist observations recounted in a florid style as non-fiction, this may be for you. It isn’t for me.
Two stars, I think, as there was one or two facts of interest and I liked some of the literary excerpts.
June 11, 2023
Oh Lordy. For serious Birders only. I was expecting something akin to Braided Sweetgrass, or Jay Griffiths' Wild, except focusing on birds... but this is a full-on study of rooks, how many there are in a roost or rookery, how far the roost is from the rookery, what other studies have been done, etc.
I doggedly stuck it out because I'd paid actual money for it, but I was plodding my way through it. At times it felt over-written, in the spirit of never use a short word if you can find a much longer one in the dictionary.
For me, the most successful section was the final one, where he talks about what it is to have a passion (and queries why people with a passion are called "sad" when surely it's the joyless 'cool' types that deserve this moniker) and how studying rooks has impacted - or even saved - earlier ornithologists such as prisoners-of-war, or with illness or mental health issues.
I doggedly stuck it out because I'd paid actual money for it, but I was plodding my way through it. At times it felt over-written, in the spirit of never use a short word if you can find a much longer one in the dictionary.
For me, the most successful section was the final one, where he talks about what it is to have a passion (and queries why people with a passion are called "sad" when surely it's the joyless 'cool' types that deserve this moniker) and how studying rooks has impacted - or even saved - earlier ornithologists such as prisoners-of-war, or with illness or mental health issues.
November 7, 2018
I must say I'm terribly disappointed with this book. I was expecting something beautiful and lyrical, instead we get something that resembles a dissertation with a sense of desperation to be taken seriously.
He worries too much about what people think of his hobby, leading to the strange inclusion of a potted history of other birders he admires that had nothing to do with the rest of the book.
He repeats facts over and over which suggests bad editing.
Hatton Castle is repeatedly mentioned as being significant, yet his visit that one would expect to be a peak moment barely gets mentioned, preferring to spend our time in his own immediate vicinity (nice bit of humble bragging about the enormous house btw).
If I was to write a book about corvids, this is useful for pointing one in the direction of the books that should be read. That is all.
He worries too much about what people think of his hobby, leading to the strange inclusion of a potted history of other birders he admires that had nothing to do with the rest of the book.
He repeats facts over and over which suggests bad editing.
Hatton Castle is repeatedly mentioned as being significant, yet his visit that one would expect to be a peak moment barely gets mentioned, preferring to spend our time in his own immediate vicinity (nice bit of humble bragging about the enormous house btw).
If I was to write a book about corvids, this is useful for pointing one in the direction of the books that should be read. That is all.
September 3, 2020
Cocker writes lyrically about the birds but also about their place in the British landscape, both physical and psychological.
The sound of these birds as they commute to and from their roosts at either end of the day is an integral part of dawn and dusk where I grew up and it was great to learn more about them.
Cocker is a naturalist and a large part of the book is made up of his observations but what I found particularly interesting was the insight into his and our relationship with rooks, jackdaws and crows.
I’d have loved to learn more about the rich folklore associated with them which is briefly touched on, although I realise it wasn’t his intention in this book.
It was a wonderful read full of evocative descriptions of the magic of nature - proving you don’t need to go on an exotic safari to be captivated by the natural world, we only need to open our eyes.
The sound of these birds as they commute to and from their roosts at either end of the day is an integral part of dawn and dusk where I grew up and it was great to learn more about them.
Cocker is a naturalist and a large part of the book is made up of his observations but what I found particularly interesting was the insight into his and our relationship with rooks, jackdaws and crows.
I’d have loved to learn more about the rich folklore associated with them which is briefly touched on, although I realise it wasn’t his intention in this book.
It was a wonderful read full of evocative descriptions of the magic of nature - proving you don’t need to go on an exotic safari to be captivated by the natural world, we only need to open our eyes.
July 21, 2021
The blurb on the back of this book misrepresents it. This book isn't really about discovering the complexity of crow family behaviour, in fact I'm not sure a reader is that much clearer about how the various Corvids organise themselves. This isn't the typical natural world book but reminds me somewhat of the William Fiennes book about Snow Geese.
In this case Cocker simply records the routine of local roosts and rookeries.
I enjoyed it because it helps one appreciate the extraordinary in the everyday ordinary of the natural world that surrounds us and it helps us see that everything ordinary is quite extraordinary in itself, if only we have the patience and take the time to look.
Crows will never seem so mundane in future. Already I'm looking out for roosts.
In this case Cocker simply records the routine of local roosts and rookeries.
I enjoyed it because it helps one appreciate the extraordinary in the everyday ordinary of the natural world that surrounds us and it helps us see that everything ordinary is quite extraordinary in itself, if only we have the patience and take the time to look.
Crows will never seem so mundane in future. Already I'm looking out for roosts.
January 25, 2023
A fun read with some fascinating insights into the intelligence of corvids and, of course, in particular the rook. However the prose can be too rich for me at times like a cake with too much icing. The descriptions can sometimes feel very grandiose and biblical but lacking in a point to make beneath the eloquent observations.
While I respect the purpose of the book in regard to rook behavior, it was the chapters about the other birdwatchers and their obsessive behavior's throughout history that stole the show for me. Ultimately however it fell short of some of the other naturalist writings I've read over the past few years.
While I respect the purpose of the book in regard to rook behavior, it was the chapters about the other birdwatchers and their obsessive behavior's throughout history that stole the show for me. Ultimately however it fell short of some of the other naturalist writings I've read over the past few years.
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