12th October - Red Kite - Four Marks, Hampshire

I believe I have said many times about my affection for the Red Kite.  It started with the Observer's Book of Birds where I was fascinated by a black and white print of a bird of prey with a strange name, why was it called a Kite?  I longed to see one but it wasn't until the late eighties that I finally did so, managing to set up a business trip to Mid Wales where I was able to get to a reserve in the evening, climb through the woodland to then see a high and distant Red Kite above me.  I was, that day, fascinated by the way it soared using the unmistakeable forked tail to glide effortless away from view.

Fast forward to the early 2000's when on my return from the USA I was delighted to see this beautiful bird of prey in my home county of Hampshire and then over the years to be able to watch them from my bedroom window while drinking a morning cup of tea.

Today they breed locally and we not only see them, but hear them calling as they circle above the gardens.  The weather was awful today, but I was able to pass the time watching two from my bedroom window, and this time I had my camera handy.

The Red Kite is now instantly recognisable by the deeply forked tail and it's rich reddish brown plumage.  

Persecuted relentlessly over the years the Red Kite was reduced to just a small population, and in the 1960's their exact whereabouts in the valleys of Mid Wales were kept a secret, it was all about word of mouth if you wanted to see one.

Since then due to the efforts of landowners and conversationists, they started to recover, but the real recovery came when birds were brought in from Spain and released under licence, first on Christmas Common in Buckinghamshire, but after that at various locations across southern England.  The Red Kite thrived and wild populations be came established and today they are almost a commoner sight than the Common Buzzard.

The Hampshire birds were probably a result of the Buckinghamshire releases and very welcome they are.

Often thought of as birds of oak woodland, because of where they like to nest, but in medieval and Tudor times they were common in town centres scavenging on waste and scraps, even swooping to steal food from people's hands.

Watching a Kite gliding on their long wings I am reminded of some of the CGI dragons created for the fantasy shows like Game of Thrones and House of Dragons, and I wonder if this is where the myth of the dragon came from as the Red Kite glided and soared above those medieval villages and towns.

I have often wondered which came first, the Red Kite or the Child's toy.  All I can find on an answer is from a book called by C. E. Hare called Bird Lore where he states that the toy was named after the Red Kite.

Kites are mentioned in Shakespeare's plays King Lear and The Winter's Tale.  Here it is in reference to their habit of stealing clothes with which to line their nests.

Gilbert White picked up on their soaring and this lead to an old name, the Glead, which came from the Saxon word glidan, to glide.

I love to experiment with black and white images and for the final two shots I have converted them, it adds a little more majesty to the bird I think.

But maybe losing a bit of the beauty of this wonderful bird of prey that is now definitely back in the country.