Wild ravens had been resident at the Tower of London for so long that a legend arose that if the ravens ever deserted the Tower, it would fall. Not wanting to take any chances, one of the monarchs decreed that at least six ravens be kept on the premises at all times. So now there are eight semi-tame ravens (two spares). One of the Beefeaters serves as the Ravenmaster: clipping their wings periodically so they can't fly too far, feeding them their daily ration of beef (the joke is that they're the real beefeaters in the Tower), and retrieving them from the grassy bottom of what had once been a moat when they fly down from the outer wall and can't get back up.

We saw wild Carrion Crows joining their larger cousins here, but apparently wild ravens are very uncommon in southern England, at least nowadays. We had to wait until Scotland to see any of those. So apparently the ruler's precautions were wise.