What a change in the weather! We had snow yesterday, which did not stay on the ground, but the temperature dropped, and dropped further overnight. So this morning there was frost on the ground, the mud was frozen, and we had glorious sunshine to make up for the icy temperatures.
I left the house at 7.45 a.m., having heard some early, distant raven calls coming from Pontcanna Fields. There were no calls at first when I got into Llandaff Fields, and no ravens, but lots of dogs enjoying the bright morning.
The first calls came from the direction of the tennis courts, just as I got to the top of the big field.
Two ravens swooped towards me - my bold pair. As I fed them, some soft croaking came from behind my back: the quarry pair had arrived, keeping well away from the bold pair and from me - but happy to pick up the scraps I threw them. As I turned back to my bold pair, the young pair flew to the ground as well, joining the other four.
There was a brief scuffle between the young pair and the companion of the bold raven, then all settled to pick the scraps and feeding.
And then - Bas turned up. it is such a joy to see that big dog come rushing up to me.
The ravens were not so enthusiastic about Bas - the quarry pair took off immediately, while the other four moved away a bit, still on the ground.
I kept feeding them because Bas had rushed off to greet other dogs - but as he came back he chased the four ravens.
The young pair then also took off, not coming back, but the bold pair just flapped a few yards away. So they got some more scraps, Bas having chased the young pair into the ravens field.
Finally, they'd had enough to eat and since that big black house wolf came back from the spinney, they flew off over the tennis courts.
That was the end of the feeding for today, and Bas, Karen and I walked back down the big field.
Having all six ravens coming together again, I think there are two reasons for this:
one, the frost means they can't get at their food caches and are thus happy to eat as much as they can.
Two, the bright sunlight means that they all can see me coming, thus don't have to hang about in the gloom, waiting for one or the other raven to call.
It looks as if we'll have the same weather conditions tomorrow, so I can test my assumptions.
