Red Kite

There is a place that I always go to in late March to early April, to photograph Northern Wheatears, it's high up on the Brecon Beacons in a very quiet location. It's an ideal place to photograph what I consider to be one of the most photogenic spring migrants. They like to stay around a small cluster of broken Limestone rocks and they perch on top which makes a nice image. I was at this place yesterday, in glorious spring weather, but they haven't arrived yet. However, what happened next took me totally by surprise, I was sitting on my foldaway stool against a hedgerow when there was an almighty splashing from a pool which is about one hundred yards away, I thought an Osprey had entered the water, but there is nothing in the pool for a bird like that. After about a minute, much to my surprise, a Red Kite took off from the pool and landed on a fence post, it saw me and I thought 'that's it, it will take off now', it did, but it landed again immediately, its feathers must have been too wet for it to fly away. Usually you don't see Red Kites perched, they are nearly always on the wing and they are very shy and don't allow anyone to get too near to them. This was an opportunity that doesn't come around too often, so I took a few shots, then crept nearer and nearer, until I was about twenty yards away. The bird began to sun itself and fan its tail feathers out to dry, these are are an integral part of its flight, acting like a large rudder which it uses constantly to change direction. It began pulling its tail feathers through its bill to dry them and just sat there drying off and looking at me quite relaxed. When it was mostly dry it took off on its five foot wingspan and drifted across the valley. What a great experience!!
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