The feathered guardians of England’s legacy

For Christopher Skaife, author of The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London, ravens are a passion and vocation. As Yoeman Warder (Beefeater) at the Royal Majesty’s Tower and Fortress, The Tower of London, love of story telling is an important asset. Skaife’s fascination with spectacle, theater, and history makes his stories come alive. He says it takes 6 months to memorize the narrative told during the Tower of London’s tour, and 3-4 years to fully perfect it. As Ravenmaster, the health and welfare of the Tower’s flock of ravens is one of his primary responsibilities. Years of observing, researching, and interacting with these birds give him great knowledge and insights to share in this fascinating behind the scenes look at a Ravenmaster’s life (@ravenmaster1).

Skaife notes ravens play a role in history, legends, literature, and photography. One poem, “The Ravens’ Nest” by 18th century English poet John Clare, is about a pair of village ravens returning each year and repairing their nest to raise a new generation. The nest is a nexus between stories of village patriarchs scaling the massive tree as children to reach it, with new generations attempting the same thing. The nest is “a landmark in the chronicles of village memories,” and birds who occupy it each year are active participants of history in the making as their eggs hatch. Skaife notes the ravens are not seen as omens of ill, but as dark recording angels linking past with present life. (Libravox recording of poem: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjT4R....)

British legend indicates 17th Century King Charles II feared the Tower and Kingdom of England would fall if the ravens ever left it, so in a sense, the fate of England could rest upon the survival of these birds. The incentive to keep them around continues to this day, and in 2019 it was cause for celebration when four raven chicks hatched on the Tower grounds, a first since 1989.

Although on the rebound, today ravens are much diminished in numbers. Skaife describes unexpectedly spotting a pair flying against a cloudy sky, diving and circling together with wings tip to tip, as one of the most moving images he’s ever seen, more powerful than any human performance. As you read through this book, you begin to see ravens through his eyes.

Ravens have complex social lives, and can be fiercely territorial. Two Tower raven deaths, a result of raven attack, occurred, one in the 1940s, and one in the 1950s. None have happened during Skaife’s administration. He attributes this to careful observations and husbandry. Ravens, who have a much deeper sound than crows, can become stressed but hide those issues. Loss of weight can be an early indication of problems. 

Skaife reflects about the almost unsettling degree to which ravens observe humans. He writes, “Ravens have dense complex brains and imagination, the ability to anticipate the outcome of their actions...A baby raven looks a bit like a grotesque miniature gargoyle.” He mentions book Desert Notes: Reflections in the Eye of a Raven by Barry Lopez, who writes, “...there are no crows in the desert. What appear to be crows are ravens. You must examine the crow, however, before you can understand the raven. To forget the crow completely, as some have tried to do, would be like trying to understand the one who stayed without talking to the one who left. It is important to make note of who has left the desert." (Sadly, the gifted Barry Lopez passed away Christmas Day 2020. 
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/26/948863...)

Skaife also suggests book The Solitude of Ravens by Masahisa Fukase, a post war Japanese experimental photographer. There is a good video of the book’s photos online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZrjp... Nowhere is the exquisite design of nature more apparent then in bird photography. The geography of a taloned grip, the graceful curves of a heron, the architectural and purposeful perfection of wingspans in flight, all tell a story making words unnecessary. 
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddes...

Perched upon their historic Tower, the watchful eyes of ravens like those of medieval gargoyles, seem guardians of distant centuries, rich with the history their forbearers surveyed from soaring heights, a tangible link of ancestral community within a current context, and a legacy worth protecting for future generations.