Dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon …..

I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
    dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
    Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
    As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
    Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!

Gerald Manley Hopkins 

It’s quite some time since I’ve had the privilege of watching a kestrel hunting. Buzzards seem two a penny, patrolling the skies on stretched out wings, gliding the thermals effortlessly. But to watch a kestrel …. that’s a different thing entirely. 

Over the hills of Sychnant, this Windhover clearly demonstrates how he’s earned his name. Hovering high above me, he holds his position perfectly against the buffeting wind, then swoops and steadies as he moves to search another area for his prey. Of course, Hopkins describes it far better than I ever could. 

I’ve quoted this before in my early days of blipping, but here’s the whole poem if you’re interested. 

https://poets.org/poem/windhover

My 600mm lens is at full stretch, and against the sun, the shots lack definition, so I’ve given them a high key treatment and presented them as a montage.  

My beautiful windhover has long disappeared into the hills when we witness a battle overhead between a crow and a buzzard - the former presumably defending a nesting site. I’ve added a collage of some of my very distant shots just as a record.