A red-letter day in central Paisley today with the first flight of one of the Raven nestlings. In actual fact it all ended in chaos and I am not sure if the bird survived the ordeal. It all started fairly quietly with the young bird perched on the steps of the church at 08:00 as I arrived for work, presumably having flown down from the nest earlier in the morning. It spent the morning hopping up and down the steps and mostly roosting quietly on a low wall. From time to time the adults came and watched proceedings from various perches. However with at least one sibling still in the nest (seen flapping its wings), they were having to divide their attention.
Took a late lunch at 14:00 and walked over to see what was happening. Visitors started arriving at the church, whereupon the young bird took fright and careered across the road, only to crash-land in the hedge of the car park opposite. The adults both came down to street level calling loudly and making the passers-by wonder what all the racket was about. For the next half hour, the fledgling perched on a car roof while its parents flew around agitatedly, chasing and being chased by the local big gulls. Eventually all was quiet. I have no idea what became of the young bird (I had a good look around the car park when I was leaving, and also asked the attendants if they had seen anything) but one of the adults kept coming to the front of the church and calling loudly every hour or so until I left work at 19:30.