Birds of Lake District National Park UK

A large, glossy black corvid that favours high crags and remote fells for nesting. In the Lake District it’s a conspicuous caller on high ridges and often seen as solitary pairs or small family groups.

Look for a very large black bird with a heavy bill, shaggy throat feathers, deep croaking call and a wedge-shaped tail in flight. Behaviourally bold and often seen flying high or perching on crags.

Common Confusions

• Carrion Crow Corvus corone Smaller with a slimmer bill and shorter wedge-shaped tail; ravens have a heavier bill, shaggy throat feathers and a wedge-shaped tail in flight.
• Rook Corvus frugilegus Rooks have a bare greyish face around the bill when adult and different social behaviour (large nesting colonies); ravens are bulkier with a fuller bill.
• Jackdaw Corvus monedula Much smaller with a grey nape and pale eye; jackdaws are highly social and fly in flocks.
• Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax Choughs have red legs and a curved red bill and a more buoyant, acrobatic flight; ravens are larger and uniformly black-billed.
• Common Blackbird Turdus merula Smaller songbird with slimmer profile; blackbirds have a thinner bill and different posture, often on the ground or in hedgerows.