Country diary: The mountain silence is interrupted by ravens

Kilfeaghan, County Down: Today is one of those days when the natural world is so captivating that I forget my camera and just watchTwo miles up a single track road - a boreen - I'm cradled in the bosom of the Mourne mountains, sitting outside a cottage with a view to Carlingford Lough. The mountain silence is interrupted by a whooshing of wingbeats, and I know that a raven is about to fly over my head.No camera in hand, I can feel its stout wings swimming through the morning air, its beady eye shining in the morning sun as it weighs me up, before an updraught sends it high and off towards the skyline, where it is joined by two peregrine falcons. Minutes later, I hear a raven call again, somewhere left of centre. This time I have my camera, but I'm so in awe as a pair of the boot?black wonders glide overhead that I just watch. Continue reading...