This morning I took the dogs down to the marsh because the normal field has been covered with dried poo and Mosely finds it strangely appetising. No, me neither.
When we reached the moat, someone (or some t-h-i-n-g...) had tied a dead rook or crow to a tree. Was it a warning to other rooks? Was it a witch's curse? It looked a bit ominous. Anyone got any ideas?
15 comments:
It's a political statement or warning. A crowD (did you see what I did there?) of rooks is called a Parliament.
It might be Ryanair's way of announcing suspended flights.
Gamekeeper's Gallows??
P.s. Norfolk fenland folklore :-
A crow in a crowd is a rook -
A rook on its own is a crow.
Well, I was just thinking hung parliament ... never mind.
I have no idea, but I saw a pig's head stuck on a fence post by the road once and thought they might be trying to tell us something!
Tim: You're on fire! And hanging's too good for 'em!
Martin: They do try to rook you with the add-on costs...
Mike and Ann: I was relying on your Country Knowledge to solve this one!
Gabby: Was it outside a house called "Souzere"?
If it had a little label on it reading 'Boo!' it could have been a scarecrow. Though Lil doesn't look too bothered.
I think it was Voltaire who said that the English shot Admiral Byng "pour encourage l'autres", and I think possibly a local gamekeeper is trying to encourage all the other crows to stay away from his patch.
Perhaps Christopher could correct the quotation, and/or its source ?
P.s. Sorry Rog. NOT Gamekeeper's gallows. Should have said Gamekeeper's Gibbet. When the gamekeeper tried to show the landowner that he (the gamekeeper) was doing his job by displaying the corpses of the predators he'd shot.
My first thought was a Gamekeeper's Gibbet (as already suggested). It could be a Druidic ghost fence. An invisible and impassable fence to confound the enemy (whoever they may be).
Or it could just be a dead bird on a bit of string.
Z: There'll be Boo-Birds over...
Mike: I wish he'd come round my garden and produce a display of moles on the fence.
Sir B: It has mysteriously disappeared now so it may have been taken away by a crack SAS Rookie team.
Is/was it a rook or a crow? A parliament of rooks, but a murder of crows, as Voltaire used to say. QED.
Nice piece of baler twine.
I've always believed it's what farmers do to protect their crops.
Any robins around?
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