No rain!
Not one drop of rain ... and the sun came out.
We 'paid' for that with an icy wind straight from the Arctic, but as it wa dry, everybody was happy.
Even the daylight was cheering - we left the house at 7.30 a.m., and the brightness was as good as yesterday, nearly an hour later.
We went down the horse chestnut avenue because the fields were still quite wet and muddy - and I wanted to keep Madame clean and respectable for her visit to the vet later this morning.
There were some distant raven calls, but at first there was not one raven on the ground anywhere in Llandaff Fields.
But further on, then there was one in the field next to the old quarries, so we ventured into that field, mud or no mud, to see if that was my bold raven.
It wasn't.
I threw him a couple of scraps, but he kept well away from us, very shy, and only took it when we had walked on for a good twenty yards. Madame was on her lead. A second raven joined him, also keeping well away from us - this also cannot have been my bold one.
Then, as we approached the little arboretum, two ravens came swooping down from the spinney, which is a bit further to our right when we walk this way.
They settled on the ground under the first horse chestnut in the ravens field - literally waiting for us. It was the young pair again, I can recognize them now. They were as skittish as always, and again, hopped closer to pick up a scrap of food only after we'd turned our backs.
Still - they are actually coming closer.
It was interesting to see how the strong wind ruffled the feathers on their heads - it looked a bit like hair blown about in the wind.
When I fed them in the enclosure, one scrap fell within a foot of the fence. I stepped back one step - and they tried to take this scrap, hopping to it, then back, then another little hop, back again - it was very interesting to watch them trying to build up their courage. One of them then hopped into the middle of the enclosure and did this displacement activity I have described before: it looks as if he's trying to lick some dew from the grass blades.
We went to the big field along the 'more-food'-way. One followed, but not immediately. He took his time, then the other came. They don't seem to be sure about the difference between these two directions.
That, of course, is yet another indicator that they are not my first pair, with the bold raven. Those two had learned the difference!
It'll be an early start again tomorrow - so I'm resigned to feed this young pair, while still hoping for my bold raven to turn up at some time.
