Red kite scoping our back garden

There has been a lot of raptor activity over our little valley these last few days. I've seen sparrow hawks and buzzards in small numbers being mobbed by crows and jackdaws. I'm assuming they are after either eggs or small offspring. The jackdaws are nesting in holes in the ash tree at the bottom of the garden, and on the hillsides there are probably young rabbits.

But today after earlier visits from three circling buzzards I noticed this red kite flying low over the trees and then circling in their inimitable style over the back gardens of our local houses.

By the time I got my camera and had managed to get outside the house this kite was overhead and watched me looking up at him. Within a minute it had circled up and off up the hillside towards the chapel and its cemetery was is a nature reserve, likely to be good hunting grounds too.

I've added an 'Extra' of the red kite flying at a different angle. I wish now that I'd had my extender attached as it would have made all the difference!