Flying Kites

Following on from my last post.  After we had watched the goose for a good hour and the crowds increased it was decided to take advantage of the sunny day and carry on west around the coast.  Stopped at Titchwell for our pack up of filled pittas and coffee.  The car park was quite full and I didn’t feel the pull to visit the reserve.  We headed just a mile inland away from the flat coastal marshes to the gently rolling countryside around Choseley village.  Mrs H spotted a Red Kite (Milvus milvus) so I drove to a vantage point with the sun behind us.  What we witnessed is something I never dreamed I would see in my home County.

Six Red Kites in the sky over Choseley

The first Kite we had spotted swooped down to a stubble field where another flew up to meet it.  These where then joined by a third.  There seemed to be a bit of an argument going on.  As the birds flew across the road two more joined in the tussle, as they passed the drying barns a sixth was counted.  Here they wheeled around to and fro looking all the world as if they were playing a game of tag, yet I suspected that even though they roost communally this was a territorial dispute.

Follow the leader

After a while one of the Kites returned, a bit closer this time

So why did I think I would never see anything like this here in Norfolk?  Well I have mentioned about this bird in past posts so here’s a quick recap.  Due to persecution the Red Kite almost became extinct in the UK in the 1960’s.  A handful of pairs survived, hidden in almost secret valleys of Mid-Wales.  It was decided to re-introduce this bird by releasing captive bred Scandinavian stock over the years in four areas.  The scheme is a great success and now in certain places big numbers of Kites can be seen gracing the sky with their elegant gliding flight and forever twisting, forked, red tail.  Gradually these birds have spread out from the release areas and are now colonising most of the Country.  This day we saw more Red Kites (10) than any other bird of prey, even outnumbering the Buzzard (8) another raptor that has increased it’s range over the years.

A female Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) tries to slip by unnoticed past a patch of dead Sunflowers

A superb day out and it helps to take my mind off more worrying and depressing issues a few hours flight east.  💙💛