Dulwich neighbourhood living in fear of violent crow attacks - with bald men the main target

[Jenasaurus]

Neighbourhood plagued by violent crow attacks leaving locals living in fear - Mirror Online

Sounds terrifying poor men without hair!

Yay, communist crows! I used to live at the Herne Hill end of Rosendale Road in the 90s, and while DH was once mugged at knifepoint outside our door, the corvids were friendly…

😂

That is bloody epic, thank you for posting!

Crows are one thing - we've got Red Kites swooping down on us in our village. Wing span of 6 ft.

When we were in Devon at the beach one year when the DC were young (I can't remember where exactly, probably Sidmouth) a seagull swooped down and grabbed the ice cream off my DD's cornet. Like literally just got the ice cream off the top - it was still fairly firm in one scoop - and left the empty cornet in her hand. It still gets mentioned now in family memories.

Prob the Dulwich crows are channeling their seagull bretheren.

Corvus are scary smart: they learn ‘bad’ people and hold grudges, including passing those grudges down to their children: there’s a load of amazing research on this: https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/grudge-holding-crows-pass-on-their-anger-to-family-and-friends. I suspect one bald man did something bad to the crowd and now they’re not taking any chance.

Ooh, Townley Road! One of best best friends lived there when we were kids - I spent tons of time there (no crows that I remember).

@LindorDoubleChoc a Brighton seagull stole my whole ice cream from my hand - cone and all 😂😭

@ssd No Such Thing as a Fish podcast did an episode on it. Totally changed the way I feel about them. Such bloody smart birds.

I love that a collective of crows is called a Murder. Very appropriate here.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4974597-to-be-scared-that-im-still-marked-by-the-crows?page=17&reply=131958235

Though if you see two of them it's just attempted murder......

I fed some in our local park, a few years ago, whilst walking the dog. After that, they would follow me, but only if I had the dog with me.

I was in Australia last year and was feeding some cheeky little black and white, starling sized birds and soon had a crowd of them, they even came on the table and waited for me to toss crumbs. They got quite aggressive when people came by.

At some point, two women sat down and said, "Wow! You're the Magpie Whisperer!"

I thought they'd be big birds, like European ones.

@TheThingIsYeah Can't say I ever frequented it. I am guessing it is to do with the football club? Not into football hence me not being sure if that is what you meant!

Only went to one pub once. That was when we were trying to move in. The old couple had never moved before and had not started moving stuff out! It was snowing heavily. I asked permission to bring our cat in the local pub!

@echt
Aussie magpies sound more tuneful than UK ones. Ours sound like creaky gates at stupid o'clock in the morning!! Should have heard them this morning. Made a right racket!

@LindorDoubleChoc @GreekVases

Haha! Both very funny!!

I always talk to any magpies I see, and I've only been bombed three times in my life, but dodged being hit as I heard them coming. I like to keep on their good side! I read somewhere that if you look them in the eye they will remember you.

@Deathraystare I love the sound of Australian magpies - my favourite birdsong.

@Deathraystare yeah, the football club. It's a strange old place. Granted they get crowds of 2,000 to 3,000 but it's an ultra left wing demographic. When I go to football matches I like to escape real life for 2 hours so it feels a bit "heavy".

Years ago I had a kitten that tried to attack a young crow, and a large group of crows sat on the roof of our house, squawking aggressively for several hours. We had to keep the kitten inside or I think they would have definitely taught her a lesson. Wouldn't mess with them!!

Crows are amazing. I've been feeding a crow couple for years and every year they bring the babies to show them where to get an easy dinner.
They come and knock on the kitchen window when they want food. They're beautiful.
I'm glad they're on my side though, their beaks are huge.

We have crows nesting in a tree across the road, The other morning my dog stopped for a poo under that tree, one of the crows started picking bits of bark of a branch and spitting them at the dog (who didn't even notice).

Those would probably have been either willie wagtails - who are aggro little buggers, I've seen one chase off a magpie - or mudlarks aka peewee magpies. Australian Magpies (who aren't Corvidae though they are more broadly in the corvid line) are indeed big birds.

Same here, I love their carolling!

I always stop and listen to them, and try to work out where they are. For large birds they can hide themselves very well in trees!

Yes, I'm as likely to hear them as see them, unless they're on the ground.