Red Kites, Roosting

The most extraordinary phenomenon is being played out just yards from my house.

The tall beech and oak trees in London Wood have become a night roost for Red Kites.

We have in recent years had Red Kites visiting and this year they bred in the area for the first time. But over the past two weeks numbers have increased daily.
First we were excited to see 11, then, Mellors reported seeing 15, the next day I saw over twenty.

On Sunday evening I counted more than fifty of these magnificent birds, soaring, circling and chasing each other directly overhead.

The down side is of course that they don't arrive until dusk, and are currently very wary of an old bird with a dog and a camera, so taking photos is a frustrating experience. This was the best of this evening's efforts. I'm hoping they will get more used to me, although I have read that it is an offence to take pictures of their nest sites without a licence. That gives me a perfectly good excuse for not getting any decent images!!

Here is a link to loads of stuff about Red Kites