April 9th

Another fine spring morning, albeit rather cold! 

Still, it was dry and the sun was out when we left the house at 7.10 a.m. BST.

No raven calls - and after having walked round the long way, as now customary, we heard a few faint calls as we approached the enclosure in the ravens field - but still, not one raven to be seen.

Then, Bas turned up in the ravens field - and we walked round and back together, Miss Sophie, Bas (well, he was rushing about, as usual) and Karen and me, because Bas (and Karen and Dave, his owners) are going on holiday tomorrow: Bas to someone else's house because Miss Sophie is still to new and apprehensive, and his owners to Italy.

So - no ravens at all, even though we went back after Karen and Bas had gone home, and I threw lots of scraps into the enclosure at the top of the big field, watched by a magpie which was sitting on a fence post.

I do wonder if the ravens are now all engaged in breeding duties, and if getting out even earlier might help.

Another point to keep in mind is that the park department workers and groundsmen are starting to get busy now at around 8 a.m., cutting grass and marking pitches, seeing that we now have the early daylight, a.k.a BST. So no more lingering over the cups of coffee, sigh ...