 And we are live, well, we're live on the Highland socials and this is, well, it's a follow-up really to the piece that we did yesterday live on the radio. We didn't get a chance to chat about J-boards. Angus, Kennedy from Nature Northwest joins us again. And Angus, am I right in describing them as J-boards or are they Js? J or their proper name is Eurasian J. Eurasian J because there's different types of Js. But J is a type of crow. So just the J is perfect. And it's a type of crow and we believe in an art with seven species of crow in Donegal. And people are familiar with the big black rucks. And of course very familiar with magpies. But there's five other species that are around us all the time. Some in more specific habitats and by far the most beautiful and most colorful is the J. Yeah, not like a crow at all because it's, you know, the colouring is very different to what we would associate with crows or a member of the crow family. And I think you have a picture there actually on your phone of just how different it is and how colourful it is. I do indeed. Let me see if I can line it up with the camera here. Yeah, so you can see shape-wise they're quite similar. So they're quite like the jackdaw. People are familiar with the jackdaw. The jackdaws are a little bit smaller than the big rucks. And they've got that slightly kind of grayish head and they're dark apart from that. But people will be very familiar with the jackdaws and all over the place. You'll often get them in the fields around rucks and they have that tough, tough beak. And the J is a similar shape and that beak tells you that it's part of that group. It has that very tough beak that can rip open a bit of meat that can crack open seeds. It can dig out a worm. It really can do a huge amount of different things. It's very important, very strong tool. And one of the things that makes crows so successful. One of the things about J's and why they're so important is what they do for our oak trees and how they keep oak trees growing and ensure that we have oak trees into the future. They're hugely important for that. And as we've discussed before on the show, all of Ireland once upon a time was covered in forest. And most of Ireland is trying to go back to forest all the time. Trees are trying to regenerate themselves all the time. Some of that happens naturally with just wind. The seeds of the likes of birch trees, of the likes of willow trees will blow and scatter, disperse on the wind. But for the bigger trees, trees like oak, they've got a big, heavy acorn. And if you have a big, heavy acorn and it drops down, well, you need that acorn to spread out somehow. So they use the J's very cleverly. They've evolved along with birds like J's. And every now and then, every few years, they have what's called a mast here. A mast, just an old English word for seed. So it's a seed here. A year where they have a huge amount of seeds. And that huge amount of seeds, there's way too much for the J's, the squirrels, the mice and the rest of it to be able to eat. So what the clever J does is it stashes maybe over 3,000 of these acorns around the place, around the area. It'll stash them in a bit of mud and it'll leave them there for the wintertime. And their ability to be able to find these is quite amazing, really. People used to think, well, they must have learned by landmarks. But they've done studies where they've seen J's come back and bury through a foot of snow where they buried their acorn. There was no snow, of course, in the autumn time, but they come back in the depths of winter and they're able to find that acorn. So how exactly they're able to hone in and find their little stash points is still a bit of a mystery. But for the clever oak tree, the J doesn't remember where all the acorns are. Or perhaps in some wild winters, it won't need all the acorns. And if you bury an acorn in a bit of mud scattered around a field or a hedgerow somewhere, it's going to pop into the little oak tree. Which is good for the oak, sir, or good for us. And you mentioned they're here in winter, so they're not migratory birds. No, they're here all year round. But they're elusive, unlike a lot of crows, so the rooks and the jackdaws and the magpies we see in our gardens, we see in our towns and cities all the time. The ravens in many different parts of the Northwest, especially you'll often hear the raven in its very deep calls, such a big bird, but a four-foot wingspan in the raven. Whereas the J is quite secretive. And we don't really see it very often unless you're really looking for it. It's very much associated with woodland because it relies hugely in the autumn time on the berries and the seeds that come off the various trees and bushes. The acorns, the hazelnuts, it also spreads hazelnuts. It'll spread beech nuts as well. But you'll hear it. Their sound is really distinctive. It's the harshest of all the calls of all the birds. I'll play it here for you now. You can hear that harsh, harsh sound. You couldn't really call that a song, could you? Well, it's certainly a way of communicating for sure. Even his mother couldn't call that a song. You can get a little bit of a shock or a bit of excitement if you're a new bird watcher, if you're new to the bird-watching world and you're out walking in somewhere like Balear Woods or somewhere at Lenvay National Park, and suddenly you hear this screeching. And then if you follow that screeching into the woods and if you get to see it, they've got quite rounded wings, more roundier than most crows, or roundier than most crows. And they tend to hop from tree to tree to tree. So they're nearly kind of squirrel-like with their behaviour. And those big, roundy wings will give them away. But then that bright blue flash on them, people will think, oh, they found something very exotic. But no, they're around all year-round, but it's this time of year that they're really communicating. And is that the only sound that they make? No, they have quite a lot of different sounds. Like so many of the crows, if you get listening to the crows when they're on, say, the rooks that might be on the wires near your house or in the trees near your house, and of course they have their harsh calls as well, kind of similar. But they also have loads of other sounds, all sorts of funny little gurgles and little kind of cheeping sounds, which you'll hear on a still day and not too much other noise going on. And there's amazing diversity of sound, really. But you need to be listening out for it, because a lot of these sounds, they just pass over our heads. So the Jays have many other sounds as well. But this time of year, they're excellent parents, and they tend to look after their young right into the autumn time, whereas a lot of birds will have abandoned their young at this stage, and the young will either make it or they won't. Whereas the Jays will stay together as a little family group deep into autumn, and that way the Jays parents can teach the birds about the right kind of foods and how to stash the foods and how to find their stash again. And that's where a lot of that calling is coming from, because they're very active building up their winter stash. If you happen to have a bird table, what's the chances of one of these being attracted to it? This time of year, it can be good, actually. This time, and springtime, they can come. If you've trees nearby, remember, if you don't have trees, you won't have the Jays. You won't have so much nature, but you won't have the Jays. But if you leave out... I like to leave out porridge on my bird table. All sorts of birds will come down. But at one stage, four Jays, four young Jays, all landed. And in springtime, quite often, the young Jays will flock together in big groups, and that way they'll start to find their partners and pair up and whatnot. But you can get some of them. They'll suddenly arrive in, make lots of noise, devour all the rest of the food, the robins and everything else will dash for cover, and then the Jays will move on again. Okay, then only find near trees. Good for trees. In particular, oaks, and often haired, but not seen, the very colourful J, a member, the most colourful member of the Crow family. Angus Kennedy, thank you very much. For more information, go to naturenorthwest.ie. Angus, chat soon, thank you. Yeah, I've some new videos that were just released on both the oak tree and a couple of other trees. And they were done with the help of Donegal County Council and Creative Ireland, so that they're professionally done. They're nice, and you'll find those on the Nature Northwest website. A long wish, a little video that was done for schools about the seven crows that we have in Donegal if anybody wants to learn a little bit more. Okay, brilliant text and information. Okay, thanks Angus. Thanks John.