The 5th and 6 of May are the days when the Rooks fledglings leave their nest, I have never seen them fly on these dates, I have only seen them high up in the branches of the tree that their nests are in the Rookery. We have two Rookeries on the Farm and I must admit I have found them to be a nuisance and noisy. They cause other farmers, especially crop farmers real problems when they sow their seeds for their crops. The Rooks will also eat the young shoots, they can do a lot of damage.
Some farmers who have rookeries will go out on the 5th and 6th of May and shoot the fledgling out of the trees, many young Rooks are killed every year. Other Farmers will shoot earlier when they are laying their eggs and try to stop them laying by shooting at the nests.
Some years back we had a problem with the Rooks with our Ostrich eggs. If we did not collect the eggs in time, the Rooks would break into the eggs with their beaks. They were worth up to