Kestrel ( Falco tinnunculus )

I am getting used to these dry days, whoops shouldn't have said that it will probably start to rain again!  It was a pleasant afternoon and for some exercise Clickychick suggested we have a walk round Thacka Beck Wildlife Trust reserve.  Despite being virtually on our doorstep I hadn't visited it before.  I am afraid I had assumed a reserve shown on the map as basically a pond and right beside an industrial estate wouldn't be interesting.

I had known it was created to help prevent Penrith flooding but hadn't thought through how.  They have built a berm across the shallow valley and part way along the side of the industrial estate.  The stream flows in and out the other end through a culvert.  In flood times water will only escape slowly being held back by the berm.  Originally Thacka Beck was created around the 12th century by Bishop Strickland to link to the River Pettril allowing "as much water as would flow through the eye of a millstone" to flow giving Penrith its first water supply.

It was cold so not an awful lot about but this Kestrel was hunting the area.  It is the first halfway decent shot of a flying Kestrel I have taken.