The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London. Christopher Skaife

      4

       Roll Call

      As I mentioned, we currently have seven ravens at the Tower. We always have a minimum of six – as decreed, according to legend, by Charles II. These are our magnificent seven.

      Munin

      Female

      Entered Tower service 18 May 1995

      Current age: Twenty-three (age on arrival: six weeks)

      Presented by Mrs Joyce Ross

      Named by Ravenmaster David Cope

Raven Munin is currently the oldest serving raven at the Tower.* Named after one of Odin’s ravens in Norse mythology, she has led what you might call a colourful life.

      She is incredibly intelligent – she can solve scientific tests in record time. She is also tough and she is brave: she loves to get as high up around the Tower as she possibly can, which has caused me no end of problems, having to clamber up after her. She’s broken her wing twice and is now permanently on medication to treat her arthritis. She’s had three partners during her time with us – two of them now dead – and so is affectionately known to me and my assistants as the Black Widow.

      I’ll be honest: Munin and I have something of a troubled relationship. Basically, she doesn’t like me. In fact, sometimes I think she actually hates me. She’s certainly been giving me the runaround for years. Research suggests that ravens can recognise human faces, and I can only assume that I did something horrendous in my early days as the old Ravenmaster’s assistant and Munin has never forgiven me.

      If you ever visit the Tower, you can easily identify Munin because she’s the bird who hops off in the opposite direction whenever she sees me. After many years of niggling, tussling and negotiation, I would describe ours as a relationship of mutual grudging respect.

      Merlin/Merlina

      Female (but thought male for the first five years of her life)

      Entered Tower service May 2007

      Current age: Twelve (age on arrival: one)

      Place of origin: Somewhere in Wales

      Presented by Anne Bird, Barry Swan Rescue Centre

      Named by previous owner and officially still known to the Tower as Merlin (renamed Merlina by Ravenmaster Chris Skaife)

      Merlina – or Merlin, as she was first known – was found by the side of a road in Wales. She was adopted by a family of bird-lovers who built her an aviary and looked after her until she became too difficult to handle. She is not a bird suited to a quiet suburban life. Her caretakers gave her to the Swan Rescue Centre in Barry, Wales, where she quickly became renowned for throwing tantrums, mimicking other birds, and randomly squawking out a primitive ‘Hello’ and ‘Thank you’ at passersby. After she refused to have anklets placed on her and withdrew all cooperation in her interactions with her carers, the Rescue contacted us at the Tower in desperation. And here she has been, perfectly happy, ever since.

      Unlike my relationship with Munin, Merlina and I are close. Very close. Indeed – after many years – she has bonded with me and two of my assistants and is always very friendly towards us. She is not, however, friendly towards anybody else – including our fellow Yeoman Warders.

      Over the past few years Merlina has become quite a celebrity. She has her own dedicated followers on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. She receives gifts and cards and letters from well-wishers and has appeared countless times on television and in newspaper and magazine articles. She likes playing with sticks while rolling on her back, doing forward rolls, calling out to the crows to come and play with her, stealing stuff from unsuspecting members of the public, playing in the snow, playing dead, drinking water out of the fountain, washing crisps if she doesn’t like the flavour, emptying the bins on the endless hunt for food, hunting mice, and stalking pigeons.

      Merlina could fly off to a new life if she so desired, but due to the nature of our bonding, and with a bit of careful flight-feather trimming, we’ve managed to keep her here at the Tower. She is our most free-spirited bird; she’s also my closest friend among the ravens.

      In many ways, Merlina is a bit of a loner: she refuses to socialise with any of the other ravens. I think of her as the Tower Princess. If another raven goes anywhere near her, she hops along to find me to seek my protection, often bringing me little treats to share, usually rotten meat or rats’ tails. Her favourite activity is to sit with me in the Bloody Tower sentry box and fall asleep while I gently stroke her feathers. Whatever you do, do not try this if you visit her. Not if you value your fingers.

      Erin

      Female

      Entered Tower service 2006

      Current age: Twelve (age on arrival: six weeks)

      Place of origin: Yatton, Somerset

      Presented by Mr Martin Harris

      Named by Ravenmaster Derrick Coyle

      It’s said that ravens mate for life, but in my experience Raven Erin’s partnership with Raven Rocky is a rather more complex process than is often assumed by us humans. What I can say is that Erin and Rocky like to perch together, fly together, walk together, and preen together. They’re a classic couple in many ways – and in this partnership, it is Erin who most definitely wears the trousers.

      Erin may be one of our smallest ravens, but she is by far the noisiest. She likes nothing better first thing in the morning than craawing and cronking at the top of her voice and annoying the residents of the Tower. She’s not, shall we say, a bird who is backward in coming forward. She will chat away forever, is extremely boisterous, and loves to pester the other ravens. One of her favourite games is to invade another bird’s territory, pick a fight, cause all sorts of commotion, and then suddenly back off. With Erin, I often find myself having to assume the role of policeman. If she’s on Tower Green, for example, squawking at Merlina, I’ll intervene with a wag of my finger, tell her to move along, and then off she goes.

      Erin and I are not exactly close, but we get along fine. We have a few volunteers at the Tower who like to assist with our work with the birds, and over the years Erin has befriended one or two of them, whom she graciously allows to feed her the occasional nut or biscuit.

      Many of our American visitors like to point out that the name Erin is Irish, though I like to point out in return that it is in fact a Hiberno-English derivative of the Irish word ‘Éirinn’, meaning Ireland, and no, she’s not from Ireland. She’s from Somerset. The naming of the ravens can sometimes seem nonsensical – and indeed paradoxical and ironic, as is the case with Erin’s partner, the wonderfully though inappropriately named Rocky.

      Rocky

      Male

      Entered Tower service July 2011

      Current age: Ten (age on arrival: three)

      Place of origin: Yatton, Somerset

      Presented by Mr Martin Harris

      Named by Ravenmaster Chris Skaife

      Traditionally our ravens were named after the person