Behind the image: Carrion crow

I initially traveled to Richmond Park in London a few years ago to watch and photograph the annual red deer rut that occurs in autumn, arriving just after sunrise to make the most of the morning and having the chance to see and photograph the stags bellowing and clashing antlers in the early morning light. As the sun continued to rise, so did the heat, and eventually the rutting dissipated with the bellowing also becoming less and less frequent. As I was making my way back across the park through a small area of woodland, I spotted a pair of carrion crows walking on the ground ahead of me and swiping away fallen leaves and twigs with their beaks to search for food. Corvids can be quite wary of humans and would often fly off straight away. But this pair seemed comfortable even when I knelt on the ground to get eye level with them, and they continued to forage through the long grass and carpet of leaves.

I eventually laid flat on the ground just above a small grassy bank, and I stayed to watch the two crows and see if they would at some point move closer to where I was lying. I was surprised to see how comfortable they were with me, and one of them was less than five metres away from me at one point. As the crow ventured across the grassy bank and around the base of the tree, I waited for the moment when the crow lifted its head. It was in one of those shots where I was lucky enough to capture the nictitating membrane; the transparent third eyelid in some animals that can be drawn across to protect the eye and moisten the eye while maintaining visibility. The crow also puffed the feathers on its at that moment, adding a softer edge to the head of the crow.

With the soft morning light cascading across the grass, and the unique moment of seeing the crow’s third eyelid, these elements came together to create an image that I find simple, yet beautiful. Birds like crows are often overlooked as just being a ‘black bird’ and can be seen as a nuisance to some people. But I don’t see them as a boring black bird or as a nuisance. I see them as intelligent beings, capable of solving problems and having complex social dynamics. Their feathers are also capable of appearing iridescent in the bright sunlight, and a multitude of shares and colours appear as a result, something which is slightly noticeable in this image, making them more than just a ‘black bird’.