Raven Count

This is a copy and paste from my post on Facebook, but not everyone is on there, so I thought I would put it here too, if you don't mind, Phil.

Another Raven (or should that now be Corvid) count. It was a real treat to be out there at 05:15, this morning: mild, a gentle breeze and peaceful. It was overcast, but unlike yesterday morning, it was about 1000 metres above the hill tops, not down on it, so the visibility was great.

My only worry was those pesky Carrion Crows. I knew the Ravens would start flying out as soon as twilight came, but would the Carrion Crows join them? To my relief, the first few groups, numbering over 100 in total, were purely of Ravens and I thought (hoped) that the Carrion Crows had gone back to their original roost site. Those hopes were dashed at 06:10, when the sky was suddenly filled with groups of silent corvids, which were obviously not Ravens, though there were a small number of those too.

A busy couple of minutes, as I clicked the Ravens and manually counted the crows, but just as I was thinking how easy it was turning out to be, I realised that there were Jackdaws amongst them... Aargh!!!

Jackdaw is a species I have never previously seen or heard while counting the Ravens, but now there they were; several dozens of them mixed in with the 100+ Carrion Crows. This was getting ridiculous; particulaly, as once they began calling, I am sure I heard Rook amongst the calls. At this point, a pair of Chough wouldn't have surprised me, but at least I was relieved that the Ravens tended to keep their distance from the rabble and in the main, flew below them, making them fairly easy to pick out.

As the last of that mob had passed over, I saw a Peregrine fly over me and unsuccessfully attach a straggling Carrion Crow. It made three attacks, then lost heart and flew off. It was interesting to watch the crow's reaction to the peregrine's stoop. Each time, it saw the stoop begin, it also went into a dive, thereby greatly lessening the difference in velocity between them and allowing the crow more chance to jink out of the way.

The final total of Ravens was 266, which was one of the higher counts for September.

Remarkably, amongst the other species heard while counting the Ravens, were three Wrens. They are the first Wrens I have heard or seen up there, since the severe cold, in early March. It took until July for the first Robins to appear there again.