Murder at the Moor

Last night I witnessed a murder.

In fact, I am hoping to see it again tonight on my way home.

As I passed Gosforth Park and approached West Moor, the sky filled with dark shapes moving slowly towards the roundabout and surrounding fields. At first I thought they were starlings but as I got closer I saw they were crows, hundreds of them funnelling onto the roundabout and filling the fields, trees and hedges, totally oblivious to the passing rush hour traffic.


They have been massing for a couple of days now, and I'm wondering if there's going to be a crows' court.


A 'murder' of crows is based on the persistent but fallacious folk tale that crows form tribunals to judge and punish the bad behaviour of a member of the flock. If the verdict goes against the defendant, that bird is killed (murdered) by the flock.


The basis in fact is probably that occasionally crows will kill a dying crow who doesn't belong in their territory or much more commonly feed on carcasses of dead crows. Also, both crows and ravens are associated with battlefields, medieval hospitals, execution sites and cemeteries (because they scavenged on human remains). Perhaps with such a large gathering they simply fall out with each other and a squabble turns into something more serious (bit like the Bigg Market then!).


Whatever the reason, this is a wildlife spectacular and one I feel privileged to observe, especially so close to the urban centre of Newcastle.