Photo of Church with added mystery bird in flight - Can anyone identify please? (the bird not the church!)

Thanks to both of you for your replies. There's me thinking it was some sort of bird of prey! There are certainly plenty of crows, etc. etc. in fact the large tree in the background is the roost of hundreds of jackdaws. The photo is a bit of an optical illusion as the bird seems so much bigger than it probably is. It was the wings that made me think it was a raptor - but watch this space, you never know - if anybody else can come up with a suggestion

Hmmm... the bill looks very Chough like to me.

And it is just in the right area for that bird - a member of the Crow family.

It could all just be artefacts - anyone else have any thoughts?

Not sure it's quite the right sort of locality for chough (more regular on rocky western coasts in Wales) and having zoomed in I could spot no obvious red - so maybe another corvid eg carrion crow or rook or jackdaw if small enough (I know the area from 20 years ago and there are ravens though usually flying high). The photographer may recall whether the bird was making any calls as it flew.

I think rook may be likely if they are still present in the area - zooming in seems to suggest a pale bill. That said rooks tend to be gregarious. I doubt chough even though some nest at Great Orme's Head which is not that far away.
www.northwaleswildlifetrust.org.uk/.../rook
birdsin.wales/.../

Ashley, I don't know how you garnered all that detail from this image (blown up edit attached) as you can certainly see much more than me :)

What I can see though, is a Chough like bill - that noticeable curved thin bill.

Birds, especially corvids, are very opportunistic and can see an opportunity and take it whilst flying through an area.

And, as you say, they are fairly nearby - birds, like many animals, don't adhere to strict border rules.

But mine is just a suggestion based on the suggested size of the bird (though hard to judge), the fact that it's a member of the corvid 'family' and mainly on that thin curved bill

I well may be wrong, but that's the impression I'm getting.

I would agree that rook and chough may be the leading candidates (the former is struggling whilst the rarer latter had a particularly good year at least in Cornwall). The details of the bill, or stick in the bill, is unfortunately rather hard to make out other than it didn't obviously look very dark.

Really?

I just see a crow with its mandibles slightly apart to carry the twig or whatever. I've copied the bird into Photoshop and boosted the gamma and I can't see any trace of white or red in the beak.