The ravens

Meet our new ravens

We’re delighted to be welcoming two of them to join the Tower’s legendary corvid community!

Name our raven

For the third year in a row the Tower of London’s breeding pair of ravens Huginn and Muninn have produced chicks! Ravenmaster Chris Skaife is caring for four happy and healthy chicks, more than expected, and we will be welcoming two of them to join the Tower’s legendary corvid community. Our new arrivals will take the total number of resident ravens to a reassuring nine, three more than the required minimum of six. 

The Ravenmaster has already named our new baby boy raven Edgar, in honour of Edgar Allan Poe, celebrated poet and author of ‘The Raven’. But what about our other new recruit, a baby girl? We need you to help us #NameOurRaven!

Vote for your favourite name from Ravenmaster Chris's shortlist of names, drawn from history, mythology, and famous tales from the Tower’s past, using the form below.

• Matilda
  Named after fearsome medieval monarch Empress Matilda, who battled her cousin Stephen of Blois over her claim to the English throne in the 1130s and 40s.
• Branwen
  Named after the deity from Celtic mythology, whose name translates as ‘Blessed Raven’.
• Brontë
  Named after 19th-century literary legends the Brontë sisters, who authored some of Britain’s best-loved Gothic novels including Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.
• Winifred
  Named after Winifred Maxwell, Countess of Nithsdale, remembered for plotting her husband Lord Nithsdale’s incredible escape from the Tower in 1716 disguised as a woman.
• Florence
  Named after Florence Nightingale, pioneering British nurse and social reformer, and namesake of the UK’s NHS Nightingale critical care hospitals during the Covid-19 pandemic.

We’ll announce the winning name on Wednesday 19 May, the same day we lower the drawbridge and welcome visitors back to the Tower!

Having been closed to visitors since 2020, the Tower of London has been hit hard by the impact of the pandemic, which saw its visitor income drop by 85%. If you’re in the UK and would like to help support the costs of caring for our historic landmark and its iconic raven residents, text RAVENS to 70085 to donate £5. Texts cost £5 plus one standard rate message.

Or if you would like to support us from the USA, find out how you can do so here.

Discover the stories of the ravens at the Tower of London as told by our resident Ravenmaster, Chris Skaife.

Why are the ravens' wing feathers trimmed?

The Ravenmaster occasionally trims some of the ravens' primary and secondary flight feathers to encourage them to stay at the Tower. All the Tower ravens are able to fly but, with careful feather management, plenty of food and a comfortable new enclosure, they are happy to call the Tower their home.

However, some ravens have gone absent without leave in the past and others have even been sacked. Raven Muninn flew off to Greenwich and was eventually returned by a vigilant member of the public after seven days. Raven George was dismissed for eating television aerials and Raven Grog was last seen outside an East End pub.

A diet of meat, biscuits and blood

The ravens are fed twice a day by our Ravenmaster and dine on a special diet of mice, chicks, rats and assorted raw meats. As a special treat, they are given biscuits soaked in blood.

Meet the four raven chicks that were born as part of the Tower of London's breeding programme in 2019, in this short video.