Raptorous

On my way to the owl field this afternoon, I crested the hill above Guiting Power and found myself driving almost level with a Red Kite that was circling above the valley on my right. Within a couple of seconds another one appeared, and as there was a field gateway a few metres further on I stopped and got the camera from the car boot. By the time I'd walked over to the wall bounding the Manor land I could see that there were actually five raptors up - three Red Kites and two Buzzards - and though they were all moving fast on strong thermals, I had a few minutes of fun seeing which of them I could photograph.

I think it's worth me pointing out here that until about twenty years ago I'd never even seen a Red Kite. In fact, it was Millennium year when I saw my first ever Buzzard, pointed out to me by a chap who was doing some fencing for us - but since then they've become so common as to go almost unnoticed: the RSPB estimates that since it became less socially acceptable to persecute them their population has increased dramatically, and they're now the UK's commonest raptor, with an estimated breeding population of over 70,000 pairs. 

The Red Kite, in contrast, was virtually extinguished in England and Scotland during the C20th, and only retained a tiny foothold in mid-Wales, but since 1989 young birds from Europe have been reintroduced at various sites around the UK, and the population is now estimated at 4,400 breeding pairs and increasing. This is primarily a carrion-eating bird, and the reintroduction programme found unexpected early success along the motorway network, where the Red Kites were able to lift roadkill from the verges and hard shoulders. At the same time a couple of Welsh sites (Gigrin Farm and Nant yr Arian) began a feeding programme, allowing the Welsh population to thrive and expand, and while these Cotswolds birds could equally well be spreading west from the M40 in Oxfordshire or eastwards from Wales, it's very likely that by now the two populations have actually met and mixed. The biggest threat to both Red Kites and Buzzards is still illegal persecution, especially on shooting estates, but while Red Kites are classified as Near Threatened in mainland Europe, both species are currently Green-listed in the UK.

The owl field, when I belatedly arrived there, was wonderfully quiet, last week's hordes of owl tourists having gone back to their homes and jobs. Unfortunately, the quietude also encompassed the owls, not a single one of which showed all afternoon. Well, I say all afternoon: I actually quit at 4pm, quarter of an hour before sunset, because by then I couldn't feel my feet or fingers, and I was pretty sure that even if an owl had turned up at that point I'd have made a right hash of photographing it. So the earlier decision to pause at Temple Guiting turned out to have saved my day.