Town Raven

Town Raven
In flight

ITS A DIARY !

This is a diary, or rather, field notes written up each day, with the latest entry at the top.

To get the full story, start at the bottom entry in the archive, and read upwards.
Then read the current diary entries from the bottom up as well.


Once you've got the full story, just visit and read the new story for the day!

Enjoy!

Location Map

Location Map
This shows where we walk and meet the ravens
The yellow and pink squiggly lines are two walks we take. The yellow one is the one we usually do. The squigglyness indicates how Madame visits her several important sniffing check-points!
We stop several times to feed the ravens, and you can see where they come from.

If you right-click on the image and open it in a new tab, you can then zoom in to see more details.

Saturday 5 December 2009

Dec 5th


There was rain in the night, but it had stopped by the time we left the house at 7.45 a.m.
It was mild - feeling like spring after that freezing day yesterday. It was still dark and overcast - no impressive sunrise, but the waning moon, now about 3/4 full, was still prominent in the West.

I was not certain what the ravens would do. There was an almighty kerfuffle half an hour before we left. I heard it from the back of the house, so it must have coming from Pontcanna Fields. I could hear magpies with their cackling, jackdaws or crows, and ravens - all croaking and cawing together. 
Interesting to note that the ravens have a much deeper voice, and a slower repetition when calling than the jackdaws. I say jackdaws because, while these might have been crows, I know that there is a large number of jackdaws around.

We went to the top of the big field - no further, as Madame is still not well enough. 
First one raven came, then the second. This was my young pair, and one of them was less timid and came closer towards us for his scraps - about 2 yards. 
As they both were picking the scraps, another pair appeared and landed on the field. There was a brief flapping of wings as the first pair tried to scare the second lot away, but in the end, they all stood in a semi-circle around us, about 3 yards away, waiting for their scraps. 
In each pair, one raven fluffed their feathers and did that juvenile begging motion with the croaking - but they did that not towards the other raven, nor towards me - they had their backs turned towards us!
They did turn back towards us after they'd finished, and waited for their scraps as the other two did.

Interestingly, the two non-begging ravens were the ones who tried to snatch more of the scraps - and succeeding. All four followed us as we slowly went back - walking, not flying!
They stopped as soon as we were level with the bottom fence of the enclosure in the big field, and flew off. By that time, I had run out of food anyway.

What will tomorrow bring? More rain, thats for sure. 
I wonder if the bold raven and his companion will come back - or have they given up this area of Llandaff Fields to these younger ravens? 

I'd love to investigate this - but with Madame unwell it isn't possible for the time being.

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