Red Kite from the garden

Red Kite is a scarce but increasingly commonly sighted bird in Cheshire. I've only ever seen one before in the village - until recently. I'd arranged with Alan H to go and check Pied Flycatcher nest boxes with him and was waiting for him to arrive when  I got a phone call from a friend just down the lane from us.

'Where are you?'

'Just abut to leave home, why?'

'There's a Red Kite behind our houses in the silage field'

Cue panic as  I tried to see it from the bedroom window whilst John was trying to give me directions. Grabbing the binoculars I ran outside into the garden and got it as it was circling over the railway line just as Alan pulled up. Giving him my binoculars I ran back into the house and grabbed the camera to get some record shots. 

They've been cutting silage in the fields recently and this has attracted a large number of corvids and Lesser  Black-backed Gulls. I think these, in turn, attracted the Kite which was last seen heading north pursued by corvids! 

Apparently this , or another bird, was seen the previous day over the old Mollington golf course. From our house this is around 1 mile from where we saw it.

A great start to the day!