Anyone with nesting crows in their garden have been urged to be "very aware" of them by a wildlife expert. Recent attacks have been highlighted in Nottinghamshire as well as Essex, Teeside, Dorset and Derbyshire. It is believed that the new practices have driven the birds away into gardens and as a result .

Rob Lambert, an enviroment academic at the University of Nottingham, said he considers recent incidents in Arnold and Stapleford to be "conflicts" rather than "attacks" and said they were a result of moving to urbans areas to escape persecution in rural areas. Dr Lambert told the : "We have for hundreds of years perscuted crows in agricultural areas. They are seen to impact on crops, they are seen to impact on livestock.

"They have moved into urban areas and their behaviours have changed over decades, and they have become more confident and more ebullient, more confrontational than their rural cousins, who still live under this fear of persecution and fear of this idea of being seen as pests and vermin."

Crows were regarded as in agricultural areas that were being shot or scared away, Dr Lambert says.

He also revealed there are various species of crows in the UK, but the ones typically seen in urban areas are carrion crows and jackdaws. The expert belives that it is carrion crows that are behind the attacks.

He said: "The majority of these cases are simply crows defending territory, defending the food source, defending a nest site, defending fledged young, and they are instinctively reacting to any invasion into that space, and I would say that's particularly more relevant with people with dogs.

"There are no coordinated dive-bombing attacks. They are simply a scare tactic thats these birds are using to chivvy us away from an area that they perceive to be their territory."

Unfortunatly those with ornithophobia - a fear of birds, Dr Lambery says there is a likelihood that conflicts like these will become more common in the future. "As we pave over the countryside, and as we change farming, and as climate shifts, birds are moving," he said.

"I think there will be instances of conflict between people and crows for decads to come. It's how we manage those conflicts, and it's how we avoid blaming birds, and looking at some of our behaviours, and look at some of our impacts on the wider countryside that are shifting and changing the maps of species across the country."

The danger of people being attacked by crows in their garden is even higher now due to the nesting season. Dr Lambert advises people to be "very aware" of both nesting crows and young birds.

He also says that people can "carry a stick slightly above your head" as the birds will strike for that instead. For those walking with dogs, he says to be cautious as crows will most likely be targetting them rather than owners.

An RSPB spokesperson warned members of the public to "keep a distance from any nests during breeding season".

"Crows only tend to attack humans when they get near to their nests during the breeding season," they said.

"[They] usually keep to themselves and will only attack when they feel threatened themselves, or a threat towards their chicks."