15th February - Kites

With the snow all gone and the temperatures back to a normal UK winter, the garden has gone quiet, which means that there must be sufficent "natural" food available.  A pair of Long-tailed Tits came to feed on the fat blocks, and the odd Linnet could be seen on the seeds, but a part from the regular four Blue Tits it was very quiet.

The one highlight today though was a Red Kite that glided slowly past the upstairs window as I worked.  It drifted around the house, then across the garden and off to the south.  The last one I had seen from the house was back in June, but this one gave the closest views yet. 

Strange to think that when I started birding the Red Kite was the one bird I wanted to see, now I seem to see them all the time.  It involved diversions when on business trips to Mid Wales, and I remember the thrill when I finally managed to catch a glimpse of my first one soaring over the RSPB reserve at Dinas.  Now I see them along the A34 on the way to Oxford, in Oxford, and now over my garden.  I will never tire of them though, the way the forked tail moves to control the glide, the richness of the rusty red against the slaty blue head, they are beautiful birds.