June 1st

It was raining again today - quite a bit in the morning, then diminishing to a drizzle later in the afternoon.

We went out at 6.50 a.m., and went straight to Pontcanna Fields. Miss Sophie did well on her various recall exercises. 

We only saw one raven in the distance, looking quite miserable and wet. 

He was too far away for me to recognise him.

Later in the afternoon we went to Llandaff Fields. The drizzle kept the people indoors, so it was nice and 'empty'. 

The first raven met us at the far side of the ravens field, and he was soon joined by his companion. This was the young pair, and it was interesting to observe how one of them (the one with the Roman nose) was a bit more intrepid, coming just this little bit closer than his companion.

Also, interestingly, as with the bold pair earlier this year, this raven took the scraps while his companion waited patiently, even letting him take the scrap I had thrown quite close to her. 

She got a couple after he'd flown off.

Unlike the bold raven, the Roman-nosed raven ate the scraps, he did not store them in his crop.

Both ravens followed us around the ravens field while Miss Sophie did some sniffing and practised the recalls. 

They didn't call, and no other ravens appeared.

Close to the spinney is a half-burned log, which Miss Sophie is not interested in - but the roman raven, who had followed us to this part of the field, came and sat on it, cleaning his beak against the wood.

Two bouncy whippets turned up at that point. We had never seen them before, and I took Miss Sophie away while she was pondering which one to go for ...

The raven did not follow us, although our retreat was along the 'more food' way. 

Perhaps he didn't like those whippets either ...