Читать книгу The Times A Year in Nature Notes - Derwent May - Страница 49

IN THE MOUNTAINS and along craggy coasts, male ravens are showing off to the females. They nose-dive from high in the sky, and sometimes even roll over in the air and glide on their backs for a moment. They will also soar around in wide circles.

Although they are much larger than their equally black relatives, the rooks and carrion crows, the size of a distant bird in flight is often hard to judge. However, they can usually be picked out by their massive beaks and longer-looking necks. If they call, there is no mistaking them: they have a deep, vibrant croak that is almost as much like a rumble in the earth as a cry in the sky.

The large leaves of cuckoo pint, or lords and ladies, are now coming up in many ditches. They are like glossy-green arrowheads, often stained with shapeless black blotches, and frequently growing in clumps. They will be followed before long by the distinctive greenish-white hood curling round a purple, truncheon-like spike.

Growing about them in the ditches are young, fresh-green nettles (which already sting).