Meet the Tower of London's Ravenmaster and London’s Famous Flock 

Turns out, you don’t just wake up one day and decide to be a Ravenmaster, duh.  

First, you’ve got to become a Yeoman Warder (a.k.a. a Beefeater), and only then can you apply to join the Ravens Team. Interestingly, no prior bird knowledge is needed – it’s all learned on the job. Barney didn’t even really know about the Ravens and their legend until he started at the Tower, but he quickly grew interested in his feathered colleagues and joined the Ravens Team, before later in 2024 becoming the Ravenmaster. 

And it’s a lot more work than you’d think. “It’s harder than I thought it would be,” Barney admits, “but I really enjoy it.” From ordering their food to booking vet checkups and even the occasional dramatic raven rescue, no two days are ever the same. 

Each morning, a different member of the Ravens Team takes on the role of Duty Ravenmaster. First things first: food. Their diet is mostly made up of rats, mice, chicks, and various raw meat. Sometimes as a treat they even get biscuits soaked in blood – nice right? The birds get their breakfast before anything else, and then they normally have an hour or so to chill before being let out. 

There’s an important reason for the delay – foxes. To keep them safe, the ravens don’t leave their enclosures until the first public visitors start arriving. After that, the team keeps an eye on them throughout the day before rounding them up again in the evening. 

The Tower’s current raven squad is full of characters, but if you ask Barney, he’ll tell you his favourite is Jubilee. “He’s the main man,” Barney says. At 13 years old, Jubilee is the oldest of the flock, though Tower ravens have been known to live well into their 20s with one Raven even living to 44 – way longer than their wild counterparts, who usually live to around 12-15. 

As well as Jubilee, the current line-up includes Harris, Poppy, Georgie, Edgar and Branwen. Most visitors love the crowd-pleasing photo-poser, Poppy – but every raven has their own personality (and drama).  

Barney told us how a Ravens Team member once had to climb scaffolding on the White Tower to rescue a stranded bird. And then there was Raven Munin who vanished over the outer wall. The team searched everywhere but eventually assumed the worst – until a couple of weeks later... when he casually turned up in someone’s garden in Greenwich!  

Not to leave out Raven George who was let go, on account of all the TV aerials he kept eating, or Raven Grog who was last spotted outside a pub in the East End. 

Being Ravenmaster isn’t just about feeding birds and keeping them from wandering off – it’s also about protecting a centuries-old tradition. Barney and his team are dedicated to making sure these legendary birds stay happy, healthy, and very much at the Tower (no rogue garden visits allowed on their watch).  

• A few have been fired – not every raven is cut out for royal duty, some have been known to wander off too much or misbehave, or like George, kept eating things they weren’t meant to! 
• It’s a centuries-old tradition – no one knows exactly when the ravens first arrived, but Charles II was the first monarch recorded as ordering that they be protected. Since then, they’ve been part of Tower life for hundreds of years. 
• Some ravens were hatched inside the tower – most ravens are brought in by breeders, but a few have been born and raised at the Tower itself. Edgar was the most recent raven to hatch inside the Tower. 
• They’re smarter than you’d think – ravens are some of the smartest birds in the world, they can solve puzzles, mimic human speech, and even play tricks on their keepers! One Tower raven, Merlina, was known for sneaking out of her enclosure and exploring beyond her usual territory. 
• Bigger than you’d think too – these birds are much bigger than you might imagine, Tower ravens can grow up to two and a half feet in length, with a wingspan of nearly four feet. Explains why they command so much respect huh? 

So next time you visit, keep an eye out for Jubilee and the gang, and say hi from us. You never know what they’ll be up to!