Christine Field has sent me some extremely cute photos and the story of Squawk, the jackdaw she raised.
Squawk was probably found one day old, had fallen from a nest. Squawk was put in a basket, bald, cold with little hope of surviving. After a day in the airing cupboard, he showed some life. From then on, our friendship developed.
Diet: Squawk initially had bread/milk, boiled eggs, soon moved onto Whiskers kitten food in the sachets. As he continued to grow he would have a selection of foods, including meal worms, baked beans, potatoes. He expected to be fed even when he was old enough to feed himself. He would demand his food, squawking loudly through the day. He would literally lift his wings (then just stubs) and gesture for food. He had a brief period of around two weeks of going through half a large tin of Whiskers a day. He also would refuse certain types (not chicken) at times.
At a week or two Squawk would travel to work at Park View in a little basket. He would interrupt work to demand feeding. He had a team of admirers (Paul being one). He outgrew the basket, moving to a box. In the end he would sit on the dashboard and look out of the window for the journey in. Once at work he was in a large cage for a brief period during the day. He would spend hours cleaning and tidying himself as his feathers developed. In the cage we would try and amuse him - he liked bright, sparkly toys: foil, jewellery etc. Squawk then decided he wanted to learn to fly. The more feathers he developed the more he would try and fly. Initially just around the front room, bedroom, office. He then was encouraged in the garden to have a look around - gradually he would fly a little. This was brief and in no time he was flying around. We would need to duck when he came in to land, as his skills were limited.
Squawk seemed to have no boundaries having been with humans, and I recall hearing the neighbours screaming. They had opened their back door and he dived in past the neighbour into their house. One patient at Park View was subject to Squawk dive bombing near him. I could just imagine the poor chap going back to staff and telling them and being told - don’t be silly - he’s delusional.
Squawk was with us from around mid April 2005 to end July 2005. The bond between us was very strong. He continued to demand feeding even when he could feed himself independently. He would also demand and receive attention regularly. He must have been a male - his play with my teenage son and his mates was boyish and rough; he would peck around ears, eyes - he was the boss. With female friends wearing jewellery, he would become excited with his tail feathers bobbing up and down, as he played amourously with earings, finger rings etc.
At night Squawk soon refused to roost anywhere but on my arm. Each morning I would be woken by him jumping on my face, shouting for breakfast. Having been fed he would be out of the window and off (5 am). Sometimes he would return by 7.30am and come to work with me, or not, in which case he would spend the day at home. I would leave windows open for him, and a buffet lunch. He had made friends in the village and would socialise until my return.
Squawk loved travelling in the car. He was like one of the family, spending weekends with my parents who have plenty of land if Paul and I were away. If we were ever looking for Squawk he would often return by being called loudly - he would return my call, and return to me. Often he would circle me a few times - almost teasing before he finally settled on my arm, hand or head.
Gradually Squawk spent more time away i.e. from hours to whole days and evenings, until finally one day he just did not return. I spent tortured days/weeks looking, calling him. Unfortunately I don’t know what happened to him. I have to assume he found some mates and was free to return to the wild. I really miss him, but have very special memories I could not have realised the sense of fun Jackdaws have, their naughtiness, their inquisitiveness, and they really are little thieves, or borrowers several fingers rings disappeared - found in odd places, keys buried under leaves they just loved to play.
Thanks for sharing this with us, Chris. Squawk is unbelievably cute, and I’m sure he’s still doing his thing, somewhere out there in the world.
I’ve finally got restarted on my Dr Who Weeping Angels game, based on the episode from last season. The idea is you have to get the key off an angel, then use it to enter the tardis, without being sent into the past by an invisible angel. I was unsure whether to do it as a puzzle or an adventure game, but have gone for a puzzle game, where the character (currently just Sally Sparrow, but it’s impossible to keep an eye on even one angel with just one character) moves a square at a time, as opposed to having free movement. I’ll still try and make it scary though!
The kids have got me back into 
My favourite place at the moment is a village in Morytania called Mort’ton, where various shades wander around, and the people have turned into zombies. You can defeat and cremate the shades, which gives you a key to a chest in some nearby tombs. In the chests are various kinds of treasure you can loot.