Corvus corone

There is a family of young crows - they are nearly fully grown now - that fly onto the lawn cackling away in the mornings and evenings looking for insects and grubs and drinking from the metal bowl of water I put out for animals who might want a drink in this hot weather.  The parent is still feeding them.  I read somewhere that they are highly intelligent and communicate with a language that includes regional dialects!

The farm is now suffering from lack of moisture, the linseed is coming into flower much too early through stress and not all the maize has come up.  Thunderstorms are forecast for this week-end so let's hope we get some short and sharp heavy rain.