It’s all very well English Heritage selling cute little furry birdies at their new Visitor Centre but what is to become of the REAL ones?
Jackdaws that have been gathering on the stones for many a year, regularly nesting in the crevices, certainly as far back as the 18th century. In recent times every night when the site closes they’ve been flying down to feast on bits of food left by the visitors but since the old visitor centre and carpark closed a week ago they have been having to go without their supper.
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Legend has it that if ever the ravens leave the Tower of London the kingdom will fall. Does the same apply to the jackdaws of Stonehenge? What arrangements have English Heritage made to feed them so they stay at Stonehenge? The public should be told!!
The Heritage Journal 
11 comments
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26/12/2013 at 13:31
stonehengenews
Reblogged this on Stonehenge News and Information.
26/12/2013 at 14:09
Michelle Topps
I don’t think that it will take these most intelligent of birds long to find the new cafe much better quality of food as well.
26/12/2013 at 14:29
Senua
They are quite capable of finding alternative food sources near the stones. They’re not stupids. Corvids are some of the most intelligent amog birds. They will be fine.
26/12/2013 at 14:29
Senua
Among that should be.
26/12/2013 at 16:33
1morganlefaye
Reblogged this on Arthurian Romances and commented:
Hmm…interesting
26/12/2013 at 16:47
Brian John
They look like rooks to me, not jackdaws…….
26/12/2013 at 17:15
Akhen3sir
Brian’s right (audience falls over in shock ;-)) – the picture does show rooks, although there are jackdaws at the stones too.
26/12/2013 at 17:34
heritageaction
True enough. We didn’t have another jackdaw picture having borrowed one and used it previously … https://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/stonehenge-and-avebury-the-daws-of-stonehenge/
While we’re at it, the furry birdies up at the shop are ravens….
27/12/2013 at 05:21
Christopher Coleman
To be honest, I can’t tell the difference between jackdaws, rooks, ravens or crows or any other sort of blackbirds. However, there does seem to be a strong tradition regarding such creatures as both symbolic of dead British soldiers, the realm and death in general. Nor is this limited to the British Isles.
In the old Southwest (now he deep South) of the US, the Cherokees and other tribes regarded ravens as harbingers of death and battle. Each town had a “kolonah” or Raven, who was a war leader who went ahead of the main war party to scout out potential targets. Crows are well known as carrion beasts, but what makes them remarkable is that they will scout ahead of a pack of wolves and lead them to a prey–be it human or animal.
27/12/2013 at 17:30
Tony Hinchliffe
Richard III (recently revealed at a Leicester car park) was often, wrongly, portrayed as a hunchback and put us in mind of a jackdaw. Maybe his ghost will fly to Stonehenge to replace his feathered friends/fiends?
05/01/2014 at 14:24
Katy
If not the jackdaws, what about the starlings? Similarly clever birds, they will I am sure find rich pickings at the new visitor centre – but I hope they keep nesting on the stones.