Another icy night, another cold start to the morning. The clear skies which gave us this cold weather started to collect clouds around dawn. The songbirds were singing nevertheless, and there were some raven calls at this early time.
I left the house at 6.45 a.m., the sunrise was again a bit subdued because of the clouds, and the wind from the NW was a bit icy! There were no raven calls when I got to Llandaff Fields - but there was Alison coming back with Jack-the-Westie. So we had a long chat - still no ravens. Then, into the big field ten minutes later, Bas was on his way home. So we had a chat as well - still no ravens!
When I finally got to the top of the big field, I saw one lone raven sit in a treetop at the toddlers' playground. He didn't call. As I observed him, and tried to see if the other ravens might be in the spinney, I heard a swoosh: the quarry pair had flown in, and were sitting on the fence posts of the enclosure.
I started throwing the scraps into the enclosure, and after the quarry pair had started picking them up, the raven in the treetop called and then flew in. He was one of the young pair.
When he got his first scraps, the bold pair came flying in from the ravens field - I still don't know where they were sitting and observing me!
Again, one raven of the young pair took the begging position, cawing and clapping her beak at the same time. She got scraps for that. Then, one of the quarry pair cawed in the enclosure, begging. So she got a scrap for that.
It is worth noting that the quarry raven did this while on her own, the young raven while her companion was around.
The bold raven today, for the first time, let his companion pick up a scrap without pushing her off - and that before he'd collected his usual extra amount of scraps.
If it isn't too cold tomorrow, I shall try and take my camera so I can take some new raven photos.
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