Giving You The Red Kite Bird of Prey

My wife and I were driving home from Whittlesley a few weeks ago. We were coming to the end of the roads leading out of the village of Coates towards the T-junction of the A47, where the right turn takes us towards our town of March. It is very rural with farm fields in every direction as far the eye can see with the odd scattered farm house here and there.

As we neared the T-junction there is a set off traffic lights and I caught it on red. There was a line of trees across a field to the right and I was looking up into the clear blue sky. Usually there is an abundance of crows and ravens but this solitary bird had a different flight signature and my interest was immediately pricked.

My wife Carole was next to me. I mentioned the way the bird moved and she replied, with confidence, that it was indeed a bird of prey. Our traffic lights turned green and pulled out and swung right onto the A47 and drove to our town of March. As though on cue, the bird of prey began to descend for a landing by the line of tall conifer trees ahead of us. Its flight path was across a field to our left, across the road ahead of us, and into the field on the right. Its white head stood out and we realised it was a splendid looking Red Kite.

Just before the line of trees was a telegraph pole and we watched, in awe, as the beautiful bird lowered its talons to land upon the telegraph pole. It was like watching a plane coming in to land with it’s under carriage dropping down. The view was majestic and fantastic, especially the yellow coloured talons as the grabbed the side metal strut at the top of the pole where the cable passed by.

A fleeting moment and then the car was further along the road towards March with the passed line of trees obscuring the view when I looked in my rear view mirror. Carole and I were whooping with delight and saying how great it would have been to capture such an image on camera. The creature gliding down before us and we coming level as it had just passed over displaying talons as land apparatus for the telegraph pole. It was a fine little moment as we continued home.