Raven and Late Swift

Flushed with my success in seeing the Marsh Harrier, I continued to watch the skies to see what else might be on the move.

On September 14th at 2:30pm, I heard the familiar 'cronk' of a Raven and watched one fly over from east to west. This is my first Raven record of the year and they are still a good record despite their apparent increase and spread across the region. My first garden record was as recently as September 2007, which was followed by a further 4 records in 2008, so I was hoping that they might be becoming more regular - alas no! September appears to be a good month to see them, so my records might relate to dispersing local breeders.

Later in the afternoon, at 4:30pm (I hadn't been birding for all that time!) I glanced out from the lounge window and noticed the familiar shape of a Common Swift quite high in the sky. I grabbed my bins and watched the bird fly around the valley with the local House Martins for some 10 minutes before it departed southwards. Common Swifts breed here in the summer and start to depart their breeding grounds in late July, with most having left the country by the end of August. It is always nice to see a Swift in September, so a bird on the 14th is quite late and certainly my latest record for many years.