Black Kite search

Back after a forced absence. This picture is of zero photographic quality and has nothing to do with recording today's terrace liberation & spring clean where the wild bird tables & poles are moved back into the garden. For the record, we continue to feed until we think the new offspring are ready to leave their nests, usually early May.

Also not a photo of our head cock ["Seppi"- Bavarian "Jo(seph)] trick of sliding down the pipe - no he can't & in the photo, it looks like he is having second thoughts about jumping down from such a height.

No, it's simply a record of the fact that I didn't get the photo I wanted, despite spending hours sitting in the sun & waiting. What I wanted was to catch one of the black kite pairs that are building its nest at the top of the 2nd fir tree from the right. The tree is about 50 yards away & the building material is 50 yards behind me in the middle of one of the horse paddocks, a tree I cut down last summer & have not managed to clear away the unusable parts. Twigs are now dry have been broken by the horses into 50cm long bits & are light to carry.

Apart from the midday break the take, they are constantly crossing over the house at literally frighteningly low height. It really is quite a sensation to be so close that you could knock them out of the sky with a broom. The chickens take them for granted & luckily they are more scavengers than hunters, unlike their relatives the Sparrowhawks which over the last 10 years have caused us many aggravated evenings when we search for the remains of a missing hen.

As the weather is due to be somewhat wet tomorrow maybe I will try building one of my recent IKEA acquisitions in the bedroom which has a large roof window which can be opened fully during light rain. It looks towards the nest & is directly on the flight path. What I really need is a decent camera rather than my snapshot Sanyo. If I have no success then at least it's due to get up to 25°C on Saturday & Sunday and from the mobile BBQ on the re-conquered terrace, with a well-chilled beer, I can enjoy the weekend.