Jan 15th

It is raining, and since it is still cold it feels really grim outdoors.

Madame is not well - the treatment will take time before it kicks in, so we're not going out, not together and not myself on my own. I do not want to leave her alone today, she is still looking a bit frightened.

The ravens will have to fend for themselves, but there really is a lot of food for them around - and they know how to get it.

For two weeks now our rubbish has not been collected. We have different bags, given to us by the City Council, into which we sort  our waste: recyclables, food, and ordinary stuff. The bags have different colours, and the food waste goes to be composted, so those bags are quite flimsy, being bio-degradable.

Yesterday, when I was taking Madame to the vet, I saw one raven, literally in the road, on the other side of the cross roads. He was drinking from a puddle of ice melt, and in front of him, on the pavement, were some of those food bags which he'd obviously raided - their content was spilled onto the pavement.

So I am pretty certain my ravens will not starve.

I don't know if tomorrow will allow me to go out on my own - rain is predicted, so Madame will still have to make do with the back garden, improvements or not.

Jan 14th

It was grey and damp again, but hardly any breeze. The temperature was positively balmy, compared to the last couple of weeks, being just above freezing.

Madame enjoyed lots of rolls in the still soft snow - and sneaked some snow-eating in as well!

We had heard raven calls before we left the house at 7.50 a.m. - again coming from Pontcanna Fields and sounding quite a distance away. We heard these calls as well when we got to Llandaff Fields, and there were some coming from the field next to the big road (that's not on the image above). 

We saw one pair of ravens sitting in the big trees to the left of the spinney - but only after we crossed from the big field into the ravens field. 

One made a soft quorking sound. 

They were the quarry pair, very skittish, staying well away from us - a good five yards. They did not like Madame staring at them, and picked up the scraps only after we had turned away.

As we got back into the big field the 'more-food' way, they made some calls but did not follow. Instead, we heard more calls, coming from the allotments - and my bold pair came swooping in over the spinney, from the allotments and Pontcanna Fields!

The bold raven has become an expert now: the scraps bounced a bit when landing on the hard-frozen ground, and he picked them on the bounce, every time! 

He did something else amazing: his crop was full, so he kept one piece in his beak, which stayed open - and then he called, with that piece still in his open beak!

His companion only got her scraps once he flew off to hide them, well behind the spinney. She seems quite used to this now - she just waits patiently until he flies off.

The quarry pair came back as well - they kept well away. But then they called - and lo and behold: both the bold raven and his companion swooped onto them and beat them with their wings. Lots of squawking - and after they all settled, both bold ravens displayed to each other, fluffing up their feathers, bowing to each other, nearly beak-to-beak. 

Then they came back to us - we hadn't moved. and of course they got more food - the quarry pair got their scraps once the bold pair had flown off to hide their loot.

As we went home, the bold pair went back to where they came from - Pontcanna Fields - but the quarry pair, after a while, flew into the big trees at the toddlers' playground, eyeing us, and getting the rest of the scraps which they only picked up after we'd gone some distance.

Madame had a slight attack again as we came back to the house, so I took her to the vet. Antibiotics again for Madame ...

Rain predicted for tomorrow, and even balmier temperatures - so there will be some thawing. I may have to go out without Madame.

Jan 13th

The snow started to fall yesterday evening. It is sticking everywhere, and while it's not a blizzard, it does keep on coming. Everything looks very pretty, but I won't take photos - it reminds me too much of the snow we had three years ago when Big Dog was still alive, and when I took so many pictures of him and Madame.

We left the house around 7.50 a.m. It was still dark, the sky covered in thick grey clouds which were shedding their snowflakes, slowly but persistently. 

Madame enjoyed it very much - her ecstatic rolls in the snow are a picture to behold. Unfortunately she, like all other dogs we met this morning, loves to eat the snow as well, with a predictable unfortunate 'out'-come!

It was still cold, below freezing, but there was none of the wind which had been predicted.

We did hear raven calls coming from Pontcanna Fields, quite a bit away, both before we left and when we were in Llandaff Fields. 

No calls in Llandaff Fields - and no ravens until we got to the ravens field. There, two ravens waited in the trees at the spinney, but did not come down to greet us.

They only came to the ground when Madame had strolled off and I had thrown a few scraps. They could have been the quarry pair. They were very skittish indeed, ready to jump and flap off every time Madame looked at them, as well as every time I moved to throw another scrap. They did not follow us back into the big field either.

Further along the footpath on our way home, another couple of ravens appeared, sitting in the trees at the toddlers' playground, just next to the top of the first field. I did throw them some scraps as well. They waited to pick them up until we'd gone into the first field.

I don't know what to make of this. It seems that my usual ravens have found a great source of food somewhere else, and these 'new' ones are not sure what is going on, but will take the food anyway. It may well be that the deep snow keeps my usual ravens away, especially if they find easier food somewhere else.

We'll see who turns up tomorrow, when the forecast is for slightly warmer temperatures, perhaps some rain, perhaps some thawing.

Jan 12th

Another very cold and damp day, clouds thickly covering the whole sky. No sun to be seen. And to make it really comfortable (not!!!), the harsh wind from the East picked up while we were out.

We left the house at 7.45 a.m., on the stroke of the bell. Again, the first raven calls came as soon as we entered the first field.

We kept hearing raven calls in the distance, coming from Pontcanna Fields while walking further on. I believe they do find food there.

Not one raven appeared as we came to the top of the big field! 

Then one flew in, and sat on one of the trees at the entrance to the ravens field. He was very skittish, and only came down when we'd got quite some little way into this field. 

Then a second raven appeared, from the quarry side. Their general behaviour made me think that these were the second young pair, who come to the big field after my (first) young pair have picked up some food and made some calls.

Their behaviour showed that they were indeed not my other young pair. 

For example, they did not anticipate us going to the enclosure. They finally flew to sit on the fence posts, but were not sure what to expect. They did not wait for me to throw scraps into the enclosure., but flew from one side to the other, to sit on those fence posts.

They did get a bit more confident and followed us when we turned to walk back, along the 'more-food' way, getting more food while still on the ground in the ravens field.

They made no calls - and they did not follow us into the big field, something which both my young pair and of course the bold raven and his companion know very well by now.

I noticed that there were raven tracks in the enclosure, in the iced-over snow. It looked to me as if the young pair, who has made food-hiding holes inside the enclosure, went there to retrieve what they had hid.

All the time we were in the ravens field we could hear raven calls coming from way over Pontcanna fields. No other raven turned up.

With the wind picking up all the time, we were glad to get home - well, I was, not having a furry outside!

No snow so far, today - it may come overnight, if its not rain, which then ices over. 

Jan 11th

It was another cold morning. The sky was still so dark when we left the house at 7.45 a.m., visibility was very bad. 

This was due to the thick cover of cloud, which hasn't moved all day. 

Some wet stuff came down from those clouds - snow, rain, sleet? Who knows - it was far too intermittent to make out. But the damp cold was awful!

We had heard the ravens call much earlier, and as soon as we go to the first field, we heard them again, as if they were announcing our arrival. More calls, from the Pontcanna Fields side as we walked up the big field - Madame ecstatically rolling in the snow ever so often.

At the top of the big field, one, then the second raven came to the ground, from the spinney - and as yesterday, the second young pair soon arrived from the quarry side. I had lots of scraps for them, but even so, there was one almighty scuffle between them, one from each pair really laying into each other. It was plain competition for one little scrap - the other two ravens didn't get involved. 

My young pair is less skittish when Madame is off the lead, and one of them didn't even budge when she walked past him to get the scrap he'd overlooked. 

Then, the single raven turned up as well, waiting in the distance until I went towards him and threw him a scrap - he then hopped closer, but it was too dark to see if this was my bold raven.

While I was doing this, the other four squawked loudly behind my back. They had hopped quite close, to about a couple of yards, so they got more food.

Then Bas turned up and the quarry ravens took off immediately, as did the single raven. My young pair didn't seem to mind, one of them calmly swallowed the last scrap, standing on the ground, while Bas walked past him - just a yard away.

We went back home after all the food had gone - too cold for a longer outing! 

The scraps I had put out in the back garden had all been eaten by nightfall yesterday - but looking at the footprints, it probably went into some blackbirds or robins, not into a raven.

Heavy snow forecast for the night and tomorrow - if not snow, then rain and ice. Never mind, the socks-over-boots trick works fine, so we'll go out: the ravens will get their food!