Sunday, April 25th

Today was grey, damp - and mild! 

No sunshine - but no need, finally, for gloves!

We left the house at 6.45 a.m. There had been some distant raven calls when we left, but there were none as we got into Llandaff Fields. We did not see a single raven - but one raven saw us very well indeed!

When we were halfway to the top enclosure in the ravens field, which is still fenced in, one came swooping down from one of the trees at the tennis court boundary, and sat on a fence post.

I threw my scraps - he picked them up, after we'd walked on: definitely one of my young pair. Half-way round the enclosure, he'd hidden some of the scraps, eaten some others, and then he flew off towards the toddlers' playground. He did not come back.

We walked on, doing some obedience exercises - and lo and behold, when I turned to the enclosure, from the allotment side this time, a raven sat on a fence post, head feathers pushed up, and he did not budge when Miss Sophie and I walked towards the fence, getting quite close up to him.

Yes - my bold raven!

He softly quorked at us as we walked up, and then collected as many scraps as he could, also hiding a few, eating a few, and then flying off - towards the allotments, across the fencing, not the wall.

He also did not come back.

Walking towards the spinney, no more ravens turned up, but we saw how people last night had vandalised a tree and left all their rubbish lying there, spread over a huge area. Here is a photo of that shame:

Tomorrow we'll try to be there perhaps even earlier than today, rain or not. Perhaps some more of my ravens will turn up ...