Just a youngster

I spotted this juvenile rook and wasn't initially sure what it was that I was looking at.   The brown colouring of the feathers is a sure sign that it is a juvenile:  the beak isn't broad enough for a juvenile raven and the eyes aren't the pale blue of a juvenile carrion crow.  Put together, the brown feathers, dark eyes and beak shape strongly suggest that this is a juvenile rook.  Sure enough one of the parents was watching from the far side of the field and joined junior in flight.  It will grow up to be something like this in due course.

As ever you will need to look large if you are interested in the detail.

They're forecasting 33C here again today - which is what it reached yesterday - hopefully it won't get hotter than that.   While I was out and about yesterday, some nasty little insect bit the back of my hand.  It wasn't a mosquito bite, but whatever it was, my body doesn't like it and the hand is starting to look like a a rubber glove that has been inflated. Ice and anti-histamine cream will hopefully get things under control.