Between the Ears: Year of the Corvids

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Year of the Corvids

BBC Radio 3 - Between the Ears, Year of the Corvids

The mind and time of corvids has been a never-ending quest for scientist Nicola Clayton.

Corvids (crows, rooks, magpies, ravens, jays) are deeply symbolic and possessed of great intelligence. But is it consciousness? Scientist Nicola Clayton wonders at the corvid mind.

Corvids (Crows, Rooks, Ravens, Magpies & Jays) have long been seen as both deeply symbolic and possessed of astonishing intelligence behind their twinkling eye but is it consciousness? 

In the company of wildlife recording supremo Chris Watson, Clayton sets off on a burning blue autumn day to watch one of the great corvid happenings, the roost at Buckenham and wonder at the temporal, spatial and collective consciousness of the feathered mass.

During lockdown producer Mark Burman was struck by the sheer communicative din of the crows and magpies-what did it all mean? What are they communicating. Enter Scientist & Dancer Nicola Clayton. She has devoted forty years to studying the corvid mind and their perception of space, self and time. Her research has shown that corvids remember the past and plan for the future, and that they can think about other minds as well as other times. For example, they go to great lengths to protect their stashes of hidden food from the likelihood of being stolen by others who watched or heard them cache. PhD researcher Francesca Cornero spends her days observing the rooks that Clayton reared, analysing how they respond to vocal commands & stimuli. These are wild birds, can they really respond like a domesticated creature like a dog? Choreographer & Dancer Mark Baldwin, former director of the Ballet Rambert has worked with Clayton for almost fifteen years to understand the movement & mind of corvids & how birds & humans can dance the dance of life. Poet Rosie O'Reilly has fused science and culture in her exploration of the deep symbolism of these black winged bird brains.

With readings from Mark Cocker's Crow Country by Gerard McDermott.

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