Miles from civilisation, our cottage became the target of an aerial bombardment – by rooks
‘When rooks are feeling aggressive, their beaks are as forceful as jackhammers.’ Photograph: Malcolm Schuyl/Flpa/imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock
‘When rooks are feeling aggressive, their beaks are as forceful as jackhammers.’ Photograph: Malcolm Schuyl/Flpa/imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock
Sun 25 Jul 2021 02.00 EDT
For a few moments, the four of us were overcome with our cleverness at having found such a place, especially at such short notice. The cottage stood at the end of a long track, at the head of a secluded valley not far from Chatsworth in Derbyshire. Getting out of the car after what felt like eight years on the road, we could see nothing but fields, sheep and, etched against the sky on a hill behind the house, a rookery in a clump of tall trees. How idyllic. How well we were going to sleep!