Crow Field
I’m glad to see you crossed that busy road safely and made your way along the path! Now you find yourself somewhere a bit quieter- next to the car park and what looks on first sight like a perfectly ordinary, in fact a little bit scruffy, littered field. But as I think you will realise by now, nothing is ordinary, there is magic and wonder everywhere and this untidy little field is no exception.
You see, this is Crow Field. It’s a very important place for crows; this is where they hold their meetings and make their plans. Here is where they share information about good feeding spots. They gossip about kind and unkind humans – which is why if you’re wise you should be kind to them as they do recognise human faces, hold grudges and never forget a thing.
But the most exciting thing that happens here is their festivals - which they have once a month as crows love to party. And the biggest celebrations of all occur when there is a crow wedding. Crows from all over Medway flock to come to a wedding.
Of course, you know one crow quite well already, Feathers the Crow. We humans have that saying “as the crow flies” meaning straight as a ruler, the shortest possible path between places, but that’s silly, because you know as you have followed Feathers, that what crows actually do is fly the most interesting route, from story to story.
Feathers got his name from a clever little girl called Hazel. You see unlike humans, crows don’t get their names as soon as they are born. The tradition for crows is that a name comes to them when they are ready, so they might be flapping about for a few months without one, and Feathers was lucky, because Hazel spotted him one day in her garden and whispered shyly “Feathers” and he heard her and instantly knew that was the right name for him. His feathers were especially shiny and beautiful, blue, green, purple, and gold, not just black like some people think. He was proud that Hazel had noticed. Feathers flew off happy with his new name.
Feathers job in the Crow Nation was messenger. One day, Feathers had a mission to go and ask the Elder Crows if a pair of young crows had their permission to marry. Crows mate for life, so it is a serious matter to choose a mate, and the elders are greatly respected as having wonderful insight.
The two elders were called Bran and Morrigan. They themselves had been paired for life and now were ancient in crow years. They returned to Crow Field every evening at twilight. The other crows left them snacks and gifts such as bottle tops wound with ivy. Bran and Morrigan were visited by many crows for advice on matters from squabbles over food to advice on how to raise their young. They always listened patiently, and were very wise.
Feathers arrived at Crow Field as the sun was going down. There sat Bran and Morrigan, as if they had been expecting him.
“Well Feathers, “said Bran “who is it that wishes to marry?”
Feathers wasn’t surprised that they already knew what he was going to ask. They were magic like that.
“It is Crowbert and Midnight, your majesties,” Feathers bowed low as he cawed.
“Tell us about them” cawed Morrigan.
“Well, they’ve been doing a lot of synchronized flying. And preening each other” cawed Feathers.
“That’s good” cawed Bran “that means they are serious. Anything else?”
“Crowbert has a very good sense of humour. Last winter I saw him playing with a dog, and sliding down a roof in the snow” cawed Feathers.
“So, they will always be smiling, this is good” laughed Morrigan.
“And Midnight?” cawed Bran “what qualities does she have?”
“Midnight is very clever. I saw her sharpen a forked twig into a hook and use it to scoop worms from holes in wood with it” cawed Feathers.
“So, they will never go hungry, this is also good” cawed Morrigan. Then Bran and Morrigan turned their backs to consider the request and turned back after just a few moments.
Morrigan cawed, “we approve the wedding of Crowbert and Midnight!”
And Bran cawed “the wedding will be tomorrow morning in Crow Field as always.”
Tomorrow! Feathers had a lot to get organised.
Every crow started getting ready for the wedding the following day. They collected red berries and wildflowers to decorate the field and made a feast out of all the scraps of food they could get their beaks on including scavenging old sandwiches and fruit out of the bins.
Feathers did his part too and made sure that Crowbert and Midnight were ready for their big day.
Next morning the wedding in Crow Field began! All the crows from Medway came and they made their music. Crows have quite a taste for what human’s call “thrash metal”, full of screeches and caws- and the party carried on all day. Whenever a human appeared the crows stopped their dancing and stood perfectly still as if to say, “nothing to see here” and did not continue until that human had walked on or driven off. It was a day to remember. The party was heard as far away as the Victory Care Home. Everyone wondered what had got the crows so excited…
I’m happy to report that Crowbert and Midnight have four fledglings already, with bright blue eyes. Bran and Morrigan still give advice every evening in Crow Field, and there are still festivals every month. So, I hope that you will now think of crows a bit differently.
Next time you see some crows - I ask you to take a moment to watch them. Ask yourself what they might be talking about or doing? Sometimes the things we see every day and might take for granted really are the most amazing.
Ah, there is Feathers again, calling us to follow him to the next stop. See you there…
