It looked beautiful out today, and that's about the first time I've been able to say that in too long a while. There was still a bit of nip in the air, but it was an ideal day for a walk along the top of Castle Hill, a local nature reserve.
It was quiet on the wildlife front. A distant buzzard, numerous magpies, a lone linnet and some invisible skylarks (but they have an unmistakeable call). So I focused on the views. This was near the start of the walk. The hills are decked in an archipelago of gorse. 
Along the valley floor you can see Balsdean Farm, the only mark of what is locally known as the 'lost village'. There was originally a small hamlet here, but it was evacuated and used as target practice during the Second World War. Nothing of the hamlet remains.
The land is a mix of uncultivated downland and farmland. The patchwork is archetypical of the South Downs.
The one true wildlife moment was seeing a fight between two crows. I was a long way off, but even from a distance it seemed quite vicious.
Eventually a third crow intervened and drive the aggressor away. The victim recovered quickly enough and is the bird furthest to the right in this shot.
No more cubs on the trailcam last night, but I'm hopeful they'll be more footage in the coming weeks (and – I hope – photos. I want photos!)
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
gdare
23 Apr 2013Crows in Vancouver learnt how to co-exist. Their biggest enemy are eagles and they fight them with great bravery. Along with gulls :left: Not that there is any real fight though, they just do the fly-by thing until eagle moves away 😛
SittingFox
23 Apr 2013"Archipelago of gorse" – it probably seems like that to the wildlife trying to exist in the various patches.
Corvid battles can be quite odd. Last year I was watching two magpies at war with each other and a crow swooped in. I doubt the motive was fair play; perhaps it thought the magpies were quarrelling over some food :right:
Words
24 Apr 2013Darko, I do wonder how many corvids are actually taken by birds of prey. Very few I suspect. The crows are like dogs… all bluff and bluster, but it seems to work.
Words
24 Apr 2013Adele, I've seen some very nasty jackdaw fights as well, and a local farmer told me a year or so ago that he wasn't at all worried by the buzzards around his field. It was the crows that attacked the lambs and he'd lost a number to them. 🙁