Nunburnhole where a raven gets angry

Four page wide concertina sketch.

170425. Here is another concertina sketchbook painting. I am high above Nunburnholme on the narrow Back Lane road to Warter. The road is badly potted after winter making driving slow and deliberate. As it approaches Nunburnholme it climbs to this point where there is a parking lay-by. I stop and walk George, I see Totteringhill Farm over the far side of the hill. On the skyline the telecoms mast at Nunburnholme Wold Farm can be seen surrounded by trees. It is a good reference point. I walk and suddenly freeze as I hear a sound. I can’t be. But it sounded like a raven and I peer skywards, I look at the tree tops, still yet to be in leaf. Nothing. Perhaps it was a crow after all. I walk on, hearing the deep ‘krarrk ’ I stop again, see nothing and return to the car. I get my concertina sketchbook out and begin to draw the view. My eye is caught by a buzzard to my left. As I watch a dark covine shadow suddenly appears and attacks the buzzard successfully driving it off. Was it a little too large to be a crow? I wonder, am unsure as it was a long way away. I continue the drawing then get my watercolours out and add colour. Then I hear the sound of a RTV approach, it is one of the estate ( Warter Estate) vehicles. I stop and jump in front of it causing it to brake hard. The driver looks at me quizzically as I begin to talk to him. I mention the sound and ask if there are any ravens here. He confirms that there are a couple of pair on the estate. This is amazing news. I tell him of hearing them in the Lake District and near Wales but not here. He tells me of a time he worked in Cumbria where he knew them well. I recalled sitting at Sprinkling Tarn under Great End which was towering high behind me as the ravens tumbled over the skyline ridge. They are a special, intelligent bird who need a certain habitat so this little encounter was very special. Back to the sketch. It show Totteringhill Farm on the far hillside, a place I have painted as a more distant speck on previous work. This view provides more information about its idyllic setting. As I stop and move on another surprise. A huge double deck ‘bus climbs up the narrow lane from Nunburnholme and disappears heading for Warter. Perhaps contributing to the poor road surface. I may have time for another sketch.