Country diary: Ravens are my new noisy neighbours

Warblington, Hampshire: These huge corvids are now breeding residents in this part of the south coast, and I just spotted my firstWe were walking along the hollow way when we heard it - kronk, kronk, kronk - the unmistakable, resonant call of a raven. It's a sound I'm very familiar with from visits to the Scottish Highlands, but not one I've encountered on home ground, so at first I could barely believe what I was hearing.Looking up through the leafless branches, we saw the bird flying low overhead. There was no mistaking the diamond-shaped tail, heavy bill, barrel chest and long, thickset neck, which was ruffed with shaggy-looking throat feathers known as hackles. If I had any lingering doubts about the bird's identity, they were quickly cast aside when two carrion crows left their treetop perches and began mobbing the interloper. The pair were dwarfed. With a wingspan measuring between 120cm and 150cm, and weighing up to 1.5kg, ravens are even bigger than buzzards. Continue reading...