The Rainbow Crow | Birding in Full Colour

Scavenger animals like corvids, gulls, and pigeons are the most integrated with human cities and society, and yet are somehow some of the most invisible and persecuted in the animal kingdom.

Britain has a long history of persecuting corvids, whose members include crows, jackdaws, rooks, ravens, magpies, jays, and choughs in the UK. It has been legal and encouraged to shoot and kill crows and magpies for centuries for perceived agricultural attacks and the inter-generational memory has haunted both sides ever since - crows are shyer in areas with a history of persecution, and myths about corvids blinding lambs and decimating song bird populations still exist today. Since the revocation of the "general licence" to kill "vermin" birds like crows and pigeons in 2019 (those wishing to do so must now apply for individual licences), protesters representing the side of Natural England have left dead crows outside Chris Packham's house in response.

A survey by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) evidenced no difference in songbird population where magpie populations differed, suggesting that predator birds like corvids are being unduly blamed for a decline of songbirds caused by factors linked to human activity, such as changing farming techniques. Yet the RSPB continues to use larson traps to cull magpie numbers at some locations as a last ditch effort to preserve rare birds. Why should we value one life over another based on scarcity alone?

The general public, even those who claim to be "animal lovers", have never given the humble crow a second glance. You can bet that most of them will take no issue with calling for the extermination of city seagull populations, or calling pigeons 'sky rats.' But little do they know that we are behind the declining gull population, perceived as an increase because of us pushing them out of their natural, depleted habitat and into our rubbish-littered cities, and public efforts to cull the birds will only worsen the divide between man and animal.

My photography is a testament to the first hand experience of befriending some of the most hated birds in Britain. Crows who are afraid, who have leucism (white and low-quality feathering) caused by nutritional deficits, and who are ultimately trying to survive in the new world we have given them. They are the last bastion of nature amongst the urban sprawl, and our country hates them for it. Urban birds defy all of man's hatred and squandering of natural resources and habitat, representing hope for survival in the new age.

Photography that brings bright colours and wildlife into the cityscape.

There is a subversive thrill to feeding the birds and shouting "hello!" while brandishing an aggressively large camera and bag of dog food and monkey nuts. I am an autistic trans person, and visibly "Queer!", and as such, no stranger to stares and street harassment from passers by. My fascination with crows also directly ties into my autism: they are my "special interest": an autistic area of interest which goes beyond typical hobbies or activities and into the realm of obsession, sometimes described as hyperfixation.

But being treated as a bird oddity, the man who throws dog food and peanuts at crows all throughout Birmingham, is in many ways a reclaimation of the street harassment and violence I have faced, and certainly much more fun! To access the joys of my special interest, I have to embrace all of the road's frustrations. It's a scary, busy, noisy place for my autistic brain (particularly with the added worries of the perceptions of strangers), but my compulsion to see them, feed them, and especially talk to them empowers me to own my strangeness – embracing all of my awkardness and thus my autism too.

Crows let me be the man who shouts at crows in the road, instead of that "faggot," "batty boy," "queer," or "retard" over there.

My mission is to make crows – and thus joy – more visible in the daily lives of normal folk who aren't as obsessively interested. Birds force me to look up – both literally and figuratively. I hope that by showcasing these urban beauties, others may learn to find nature and mindfulness no matter where they are, as crows can be found just about anywhere in the world.