November 28th

belligerent crow

beleaguered red kite drifting

carrion pleasures

I watched a crow harangue a Red Kite today. It was seeing it off. Maybe they’d both spotted something to eat. Who knows.

April 24th

 

Sky ribbons glide by

bound by sinew and feathers

an effortless kite

Got a really good view of a red kite as I was driving today. It was flying very low, gliding. They look so delicate, as if they weigh next to nothing. “Kite” is so apt, you can imagine someone reeling them out on a long line and taking pleasure from their slow manipulation of the air currents.

Red Kites used to be endangered in the UK, but interestingly they were one of the most common birds in urban london, picking up the detritus, feral, important in the clearing of disease carrying carrion. It was sad they were driven back to small pockets in Wales.

It’s great they’ve made a comeback and are slowly spreading east. So distinctive and beautiful in the sky, with their broad wings and forked tails.

(image from RSPB)

March 9th

 

The red kite circles,

Surveying St. Faith’s churchyard,

Mouse sanctuary.

 

Driving through the old pretty village of Hexton, the unmistakable shape (even for me!) of a Red Kite circled above me.

February 25th

Shadows tumble down,

Rabbits wait, flat in their scrapes,

Between the hawthorns.

My second visit of the year to Pegsdon Hills. Saw a flock of long tailed tits, a bullish wren shouting at me to get out of its territory, a robin, chaffinches, blue tits, great tits, a skylark singing high in the sky. And most excitingly a pair of Red Kites circling and crying their sad mewing call as well as a pair of buzzards too. Up high on the ridge these big birds of prey swooped and soared both above and below my sightline, scanning the ground for tasty prey.