May 1st

Although rain and icy arctic winds had been predicted, the  early morning was simply glorious. 

It was mild, no wind, no rain - but a very light high mist though which the sun shone. 

A most beautiful start to the day.

At the time of writing, in the afternoon, the sun has gone, the sky is grey, there is a slight breeze from the NW and it feels damp.

We left the house at 6.35 a.m. and went into Pontcanna Fields, from the first field in Llandaff Fields, past the toddlers' playground. We had heard some raven calls in the distance, but saw no ravens in that first field, nor in Pontcanna Fields.

So we had a long walk round, Miss Sophie got a few more bits of training, which is coming along. I even let her trot off on her own, trailing the 5-yard long lead. She does love rolling in the grass, on her back - she is so adept that she can hit her head with her tail!

Walking back, towards Llandaff Fields, we heard raven calls, and then saw one on the ground. He was one of the young pair - and he looks as if he's got his chest feathers speckled. 

I think he is starting to moult. According to the literature, moulting in ravens takes place during the period they have fledglings, which probably are now present.

This is not an assumption - the nest we saw yesterday is definitely a ravens nest. We saw one raven leave it, coming to the ground and picking up scraps - and we saw another one, coming from the direction of town, fly to the nest and sit on the rim, then vanishing inside. 

So there are two possibilities: either there are fledglings already present, or the ravens are feeding the female still sitting on her clutch of eggs, which should hatch any time now.

I had my camera, and took some photos of the nest - once they've been processed, I'll put them up.

Weather permitting, I'll try for more photos tomorrow - that nest is quite high up in a very tall lime tree, so its difficult to get good shots.