In the residential area of Marsdijk in Assen, they are far from freed from the nuisance of rooks. The municipality came up with a rook management plan last year, intended to improve the situation after years of nuisance for the residents. But they say things have only gotten worse.
“There have never been so many rook nests here,” sighs Onno Oostland, who lives directly opposite the protected main colony of rooks. It has almost 140 nests in the treetops of the oaks around children’s farm De Beekdalhoeve. “And so a pair per nest, that’s almost three hundred rooks. And soon the screaming young will be added.”
Despondent, Oostland looks up, while the rooks fly up screaming as soon as they have the man sauntering back and forth in sight. “They are protected, but who will protect me”, the Marsdijker wonders. They all also make a lot of noise, but according to Oostland ‘this is still quiet’. “Wait but it’s really sunny, hearing and seeing will perish.”
For several years, Oostland has been complaining about the ever-expanding population of rooks, which wakes him up at 5:30 AM at 5:30 a.m. and, moreover, makes a big mess of things. And Oostland is no longer alone. The Roekenloos Marsdijk working group has now also been set up, with various residents who are also completely done with the nuisance of the rooks, which is increasing every year. Last year, with the permission of the province, the municipality intervened anyway.
A rook management plan was developed with the help of behavioral biologist Diederik van Liere. The nuisance in Marsdijk would be reduced by sawing away branches on which the rook likes to nest, removing old nests and removing starting nests. According to the municipality, more than a hundred nests have been removed here and there in Marsdijk.
But the main colony, at the Beekdalhoeve, had to remain intact. It’s protected. And that is why the municipality is absolutely not allowed to affect the sleeping and breeding place. And that’s where the rub is, according to Oostland and the Rokenloos Marsdijk working group. “Elsewhere in the district the nuisance may have been resolved, because there are no nests there anymore, but we as residents of the main colony are now saddled with all the misery. The whole stuff seems to have moved here now. They all nest here, and so close together “It hasn’t been that bad yet.”
Watch the report below about the rookie nuisance that has gotten worse, text continues below video