I always like to see Jackdaws on the patch as they are by no means common here - this morning 3 flew south over Richmond Road and another one flew in the opposite direction an hour later. Meanwhile the corvid theme continued at the station with no less than 9 Magpies feeding on the track towards the arches and a couple of Jays nearby. Two or 3 Carrion Crows completed the set.
Thre were 2 or 3 Large White butterflies at the station along with 1 or 2 Small Whites. A couple of Grey Squirrels too.
This would be my pop charts for British corvids:
ReplyDelete1.Chough- bird of wild places, beautiful, rare, flys well
2.Raven- majestic, also generally of wild places
3.Jay- wins on colour - one of our few 'exotics'(even if they are becoming common)
4.Jackdaw- love the sound they make and I associate them with Irish ruins and caves
5.Rook- great sight swirling clouds in stormy winter skies
6.Magpie- sadly ubiquity cancels out rather fine piebald colouring
7.Carrion Crow/Hooded Crow- a bit common, a bit nasty