I've had a small fixation with recording ravens for years. They aren't the rarest of species but they're quite difficult to spot in Eastern Scotland where I live. They also fly quite high so unless they're directly above their calls sound muffled and are buried in noise. I've encountered ravens on several occasions, but it was never possible to get a relatively clean recording. I either didn't have my recorder ready, there were people around making a huge racket or it was raining.

Today I was out in the Pentlands enjoying a relatively still day when I spotted two ravens coming towards me, doing all kinds of crazy aerobatics and calling each other. Wind speed was about 5 mph, there was a rare lull in the usual plane noise and no joggers or dog walkers were around. On top of that I already had my recorder at the ready having tried to record swans flying overhead. Without thinking I pressed record and froze in place while they passed by me completely oblivious to the human pointing a fluffy device at them.

At any rate, this isn't the cleanest or most useful of recordings so I'll have to go back and refine my process. Until then here's the actual recording for your listening pleasure: