A hundred years after being persecuted to extinction, ravens are returning to the Braydon Forest in north Wiltshire, giving new life to old place names such as Ravensroost, Ravenshurst and Ravensbrook.
Recent bird surveys commissioned by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s Landscapes for Wildlife Project have revealed that these charismatic and intelligent birds are back and breeding in several of the larger woodlands in the area.
The project team, Rob Nicholls and Paul Darby, have spotted one or two ravens on several occasions when working near Ravensroost Wood.
“It’s easy to miss them unless they call because they can look like crows or rooks at a glance,” says Paul Darby. “They are big black birds with a four-foot wingspan and a chunky, powerful bill, and they give a much deeper sounding call than other corvids.”
Ravens (Corvus corax) are members of the crow family, which includes jays and magpies. Despite the fact that they feed mostly on carrion, they were blamed for killing livestock and so were shot, trapped and poisoned, particularly in the mid to late 1800s. By 1900 they were extinct in much of lowland Britain, having retreated to the north and west of the UK. The fact they are spreading back into lowland areas is largely down to better wildlife protection legislation.
The first pair of ravens came to Wiltshire from Somerset in 1992, and breeding was confined mostly to southwest Wiltshire, plus the Savernake area (‘Birds of Wiltshire’, Wiltshire Ornithological Society, 2007). Numbers have grown until now there are about 30 to 50 pairs breeding in Wiltshire, mainly nesting in trees. By comparison, it is estimated that there are between 11,000 and 25,000 pairs of carrion crows in the county.
Mythology surrounds ravens and they are considered both good and bad omens in different parts of the world. “We are just delighted that we’ve got them back in the area,” says Paul. “Although the bird survey was mainly for birds such as skylark and reed bunting, a few significant raven records were collected too. We definitely regard the raven as a bird of good omen!”
Ravens do not breed until they are several years old, and when they do, they breed very early on in the year, laying eggs in February and fledging in April.
Because breeding pairs are highly territorial and have large foraging ranges, they nest at low densities compared to other corvids.
The RSPB estimates there are 12,900 breeding pairs of ravens in the UK. They typically live about 10 to 15 years in the wild, although life spans of up to 40 years have been recorded. Young birds may travel in flocks, but later mate for life, with each mated pair defending a territory.