Sunday, Nov 7th, 2010

After a prolonged absence, I'll pick up the town raven diary again.

It is about a year since we first encountered the ravens, and much has changed. During the summer, due to Miss Sophie, I did not go to the ravens field much because she needed so much basic training. We spent a lot of time in Pontcanna Fields where there were a lot of crows and the ravens kept away.

Since the Autumn Equinox we went back to the Ravens Field, and a pair of ravens was there.
However, as the mornings got darker and darker, I could not make out who they were - except that the bold raven was not amongst them.

With the clocks back on GMT since last Sunday, and thus more daylight, we have been met by this pair of ravens every morning. They usually picked us up as we approached the toddlers' playground.


Also since last sunday Miss Sophie and I spend all our time in the tennis courts. These have very tall fences all round, and gates which are too heavy for a dog to open. Here I can ler Miss Sophie run free, so we can work on her recalls. She also gets to sniff the dogs coming to the fence - it helps her a lot, her tail keeps wagging all the time.

Today, we went out at 6.55 a.m. It was damp and rather cold, but not much wind. The sky was overcast and grey.
The ravens picked us up at the toddlers' playground again, and followed us into the tennis courts. They are usually sitting on the fence or on the nets, waiting for their titbits. They are skittish, and I now think this is the young pair which were using the ravens field since early summer 2010.

When we saw them first a couple of weeks ago, they looked a bit thin, and their wings didn't look as impressive as in the spring. This, I believe, was due to the moult they went through.
Now that I've seen them every day, I can observe that the wing feathers are growing back, and that they look in better shape.

Sometimes they both make very loud cawing noises. That is to warn away other birds, like magpies, who come to sit on the trees nearby, or on the fence. At other times they do it when a few seagulls are flying over.
This morning was the first time this autumn one of them made that wonderful croaking sound.

I haven't seen the bold raven since early summer, nor his companion, nor have we seen the quarry pair. It is possible that they have found other places to get food - but then again, they may well turn up when winter sets in.

For the night and tomorrow, heavy gales and torrential rain is forecast - we'll see if the ravens will venture out. Miss Sophie and I won't have any choice but to go out ...!