Over the last five years or so, the jackdaw population around my house has grown and grown. I call them bomber command as they fly over my garden Jack-jacking to each other. The sky grows dark!

At this time of year, the fledglings join in, creating even larger flocks. They particularly like to join together at twilight – about 9:00 pm at the moment. They swoop around the valley, slitting into smaller groups, flying away and then swooping back together again.

They descend on a group of trees and jostle for a few minutes, before taking to the air again, en-masse.

They are having fun! That’s the only explanation. Starlings do it for protection from hawks. Jackdaws are big enough to look after themselves.

I’ve often thought there must be at least a couple of hundred of them. I got the phone out and took a quick picture out of the front window. There were more in the sky than filled the frame. I counted then in hundreds. Spotting each with a blob on Photoshop.

Over 530! I think there could easily be 600. What are they feeding on? Why are they doing so well? What are they having so much fun?!