Mark Cocker's "Crow Country"

I've been reading Mark Cocker's Crow Country over the past few days and am about to finish it. A study of rooks and jackdaws in the Yare Valley in Norfolk, UK, is the central thread of the book, to which the author pulls in anecdotes from the literature and his own travels. It's a thoughtful volume whose main theme is that we can go beyond our usual cotidian reactions to the commonplace and extract meaning from daily events if we pay attention: in this case, from the movements of crows. Cocker has some fascinating and often fresh ideas, but the writing sometimes lets him down. I'm glad to have read it though, and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in crows, or Norfolk. I had previously read Cocker's Birders: Tales of a Tribe, which I found hard to put down - a very different kettle of fish!