It was another cold morning. The sky was still so dark when we left the house at 7.45 a.m., visibility was very bad.
This was due to the thick cover of cloud, which hasn't moved all day.
Some wet stuff came down from those clouds - snow, rain, sleet? Who knows - it was far too intermittent to make out. But the damp cold was awful!
We had heard the ravens call much earlier, and as soon as we go to the first field, we heard them again, as if they were announcing our arrival. More calls, from the Pontcanna Fields side as we walked up the big field - Madame ecstatically rolling in the snow ever so often.
At the top of the big field, one, then the second raven came to the ground, from the spinney - and as yesterday, the second young pair soon arrived from the quarry side. I had lots of scraps for them, but even so, there was one almighty scuffle between them, one from each pair really laying into each other. It was plain competition for one little scrap - the other two ravens didn't get involved.
My young pair is less skittish when Madame is off the lead, and one of them didn't even budge when she walked past him to get the scrap he'd overlooked.
Then, the single raven turned up as well, waiting in the distance until I went towards him and threw him a scrap - he then hopped closer, but it was too dark to see if this was my bold raven.
While I was doing this, the other four squawked loudly behind my back. They had hopped quite close, to about a couple of yards, so they got more food.
Then Bas turned up and the quarry ravens took off immediately, as did the single raven. My young pair didn't seem to mind, one of them calmly swallowed the last scrap, standing on the ground, while Bas walked past him - just a yard away.
We went back home after all the food had gone - too cold for a longer outing!
The scraps I had put out in the back garden had all been eaten by nightfall yesterday - but looking at the footprints, it probably went into some blackbirds or robins, not into a raven.
Heavy snow forecast for the night and tomorrow - if not snow, then rain and ice. Never mind, the socks-over-boots trick works fine, so we'll go out: the ravens will get their food!
2 comments:
Hey Yma! Thanks for explaining the socks trick to me (vis a vis the cleats; though I never had any trouble with grip while wearing the cleats!).
I assume Madame is still doing well? Not injured by Bart?
And I was thinking: how long has it been since you've seen the Bold Raven and his companion? Do you think they've found another place to "eat" or hang out?
Anyway, thanks again for such a wonderful blog!!
Hiya, realwest!
Yes, Madame is still doing as well as she can be at her age - she'll be 13 years old next month!
I am quite sure that the bold pair has other places where to feed. The allotments, which are on two sides of the ravens field, are one place - and I believe they are also feeding in Pontcanna Fields. That is the direction many raven calls come from.
Once spring arrives, and madame is happy to have a little afternoon walk as well, I am going to find out. She does not like to go there in the morning, and it is too cold to force her to go out when she obviously does not like to do so.
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