A trip to the valleys...

Just returned from a refreshing trip to the valleys of Wales, where we were lucky enough to beat the cold weather and have the first sips of Spring.

We lodged within bowshot of Harlech Castle, a beautiful ruin which still stands sentinel over the small seaside town.

Great flocks of rooks and jackdaws nest in its crumbling ramparts nightly, and I made a point of sitting out in the chill at dusk to watch and listen to their nighly soap operas as they came into their night quarters to share stories of great food caches and other corvid gossip. The aerial acrobatics of these birds in particular are superb, among the very best the avian world has to offer, but as they are common birds in most parts of the country, they get largely ignored.

Keep your eye on them when you can, they lead infinitely fascinating lives and are always worth watching on the wing.

We were also fortunate enough to catch up with ravens and even a colony of choughs high up on a mist-shrouded mountain top.

The Atlantic Sea also provided plenty of opportunity for seabird watching and the surrounding area of Snowdonia National Park is quite stunning with its omni-present gorse bushes. A spectacular retreat.

What Wakes Up A Jackdaw?

What wakes up a Jackdaw?

One late, late night in my office at the bottom of my garden, I was relaxing with a magazine when I heard the muffled ‘chack’ of a jackdaw; it took a while for the familiarity of the noise to break through my reverie, but suddenly I looked up in surprise; it was pitch black outside and the wind was blowing drizzle against the window. It was gone midnight. No sensible Jackdaw would be out of bed on a night like this.

I went outside to investigate and found that the noise was coming from one of our chimney pots. Unmistakably a young Jackie – but what had woken him up and who was he talking to? Eventually, in descending purrs and grumbles, he presumably dropped off to sleep and I never recall hearing him having his nightmares again.

On a similar vein, I have often wondered what happens to birds disturbed out of their roosts in the middle of the night. When on lamping trips for example, one occasionally puts up a crow or magpie, who inevitably shout the place down as they disappear into the velvet night. Pigeons too make a racket, but with their wings rather than their voiceboxes; either way, it can scare the living daylights out of you on a quiet, stealthy evening.
But presumably, being daytime creatures like ourselves, their night vision is not all that impressive? How on earth can they safely navigate their way to another warm and secure roost when they presumably can’t see?