Now I know where the ravens are calling from, early in the morning!
When we left the house at 7.15 a.m., it was dark, with just some brightness in the sky to the East. Sunrise today was at 8.15 a.m., so the street lights were on, and I saw ravens sitting on the chimney pots of the houses further down the road. Might they be attracted by the street lights?
It was bitterly cold today, with a perishing wind from the North East, which caught us, both going to the ravens field and coming back.
No raven calls in the park, and no ravens. We went along the Horse Chestnut Avenue, because there are some street lights, so we could see where to go.
No ravens in the ravens field - but two did turn up when we were already on the way back, and had started to go down the big field. They came from the direction of the old quarries, so must have been the second young pair. They kept well away from us.
As we turned back to go home, having thrown them a few scraps, I heard a loud squawking. Two others had turned up, and were flapping their wings, trying to get at the scraps. It was pretty noisy!
So I gave them most of the scraps.
As we finally made our way back, Bas turned up. He gave Madame a little kissie! Neither Karen nor I lingered long - it was too cold in the perishing wind.
This dark morning showed that the ravens appear to prefer light, to see whats going on. The two ravens turned up as the dawn had got under way, which incidentally was around the time we usually get into the ravens field.
And seeing the other ravens, calling, sitting on the chimney pots also is indicative: they sat on those chimneys closest to the street lights.
It will be even colder tomorrow - but we shall get out a bit later, when it is lighter, with lots of food!
