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If you were weirded-out by London looking empty in lockdown, imagine what it’s been like for those keeping guard at one of the capital’s busiest tourist attractions? And we’re not talking about the Beefeaters. The ravens at the Tower of London have seen visitor numbers plummet since it shut in March. The Tower may have opened to the public again five weeks ago, but it’s yet to bounce back to its glory days, heaving with customers from far and wide. In fact, it’s reported that visitor numbers are currently fewer than 800 a day.
As a result, its resident ravens have been caught straying from the site in search of something new. Raven master of the Tower of London Christopher Skaife told The Sun that the ‘bored’ birds were also hungry without tourists’ leftovers to pick from the bins. So they weren’t even able to comfort-eat their way through all this.
‘Never in the ravens’ history have we seen fewer people at the Tower of London. Even in World War Two, there were still hundreds in and around,’ he said.
The building’s ravens are seven creatures (six on full-time duty and one as back-up) shrouded in mystery. Since Charles II’s reign it’s been said that if all six of these ‘guardians of the tower’ flee, the monarchy will crumble, followed by the collapse of the country. Scary stuff.
Don’t worry too much, though: earlier this year, the Tower of London welcomed some new raven chicks. Here’s hoping they’re being kept on standby.
Skaife is now calling on people to pay the Tower of London a visit to perk up its bored inmates. If that doesn't work, we can recommend a great documentary we saw on Netflix last night.
Check out which other London attractions are back in business.
In other animal news, a boa constrictor was spotted by the Thames.