I headed out after work this morning unsure as to which direction to go. I caught sight of two Red Kite coming over high up and heading west and these were followed by 8 more in a fairly short space of time. I reckoned from the direction they were coming from that there was a good chance that they were passing over Highstead so we headed in that direction. On reaching the drop off point I had no sooner got out of the car when I glanced sideways to find a Red Kite coming over low over the high hedge behind me. What a stunningly beautiful bird.
 |
| Red Kite |
 |
| Red Kite |
To be honest if that had been it I would have gone home happy as it was a beautiful view but it was only the start of a truely incredible experience. Over the next hour and a half I had at least 64 Red Kite flying west, the largest number I have ever seen during the course of a morning. As they were heading west I thought that they would pass over Reculver and as soon as it was clear that a large number were on the move I texted Chris but as it turned out apparently they didn't go that way so I wonder if they followed the line of the Thanet Way instead of the coast. Most of the birds were passing overhead very high up and occasionally the odd Common Buzzard was amongst them. Though I checked through all the birds I could I did not manage to find either a Honey Buzzard or a Black Kite amongst them.
 |
| Red Kites |
 |
| Red Kites and Common Buzzard |
 |
| Red Kites |
A tractor was cutting the long grass in the field next to where I was standing and amazingly it was attracting small numbers of the Red Kite down.
They would swoop low over the field and grab some of the cut grass with their feet and head back into the air with it. The gentleman in the tractor got stunning views as they came right past him with a fair bit of the grasses clutched firmly in their feet and seemingly totally unconcerned by the tractor. The heat haze near the ground was horrendous but even so the photos give some nice memory shots for me.
 |
| Red Kite with grass |
 |
| Red Kite with grass |
 |
| Red Kite with grass |
The Red Kites would pick through the grasses in the air before dropping them and then sometimes come down again to get some more, once again picking through what they had picked up before dropping it and continuing on west.
 |
| Red Kite picking through the grasses |
 |
| Red Kite picking through the grasses |
Sometimes as they circled round to pick up some more I was lucky enough for one to come my way and each time was a magical experience as the light caught the eye of these magnificent birds.
 |
| Red Kite |
 |
| Red Kite |
They were beginning to draw a fair number of admirers as almost everyone who passed by, whether motorist, cyclist or walker, stopped to watch them for a few minutes before continuing on there way. For many of them the experience had appeared to have made their day as much as the morning was making mine. Every now and then a Red Kite would take me by surprise as it suddenly appeared over my head having come in low over the high hedge behind me. Its an incredible experience to look up and find a Red Kite directly overhead. What beautiful birds.
 |
| Red Kite |
 |
| Red Kite |
Pulses of birds would come through high again, with fairly long gaps in between pulses. Each time, though, this for me was an incredible sight as I have never seen so many Red Kite in the air at once. The largest group had 18 birds in it. Because they did not pass by Reculver I suppose it is possible that groups of birds could have been doing a large circuit and come back round over me but from what I could see the movement was steadily west so I think they were different birds but I have no way of knowing for sure.
 |
| Red Kites |
A fair few times, out of those passing overhead, some would appear to see the tractor working, and as others had, come down to have a look, gradually spiralling down as they did so. Each time I would end up not knowing which direction to look as the air would be full of between 3 to 8 Red Kites spiralling and swooping over the field.
As one of the Red Kites spiralled down I thought that it had some loose wing feathers fluttering up as the wind caught them. But as it came closer it was clear that it had colour wing tags. I tried for some photos as it came through and luckily from those I could read the number on the tags and was able to report the sighting. It was great to receive back details on the bird. It turns out that he hatched and was ringed in 2020 near Shaftesbury, North Dorset, and he was last sighted in Dorset in April with the next sighting being over Tilmanstone near Deal yesterday. So far he has come 235 km ENE.
 |
| Z3 Yellow wing tagged Red Kite |
 |
| Z3 Yellow wing tagged Red Kite |
The number of Red Kite coming through was definitely slowing and there was a good amount of threatening looking cloud building on the horizon. I enjoyed seeing the light shining through the wings of one of the Red Kites above me.
 |
| Red Kite |
It was hard to tell with some of the Common Buzzards if they were passing through or local birds. It seemed likely that some of the lower birds were local. A smart juvenile was amongst one of the lower birds.
 |
| juvenile Common Buzzard |
The number of Red Kites coming through slowed to a trickle and in the last hour that I watched for only the odd one or two came through. At the same time the black clouds that had been building appeared to be heading my way and looked decidedly rain laden. I thought I was going to get soaked but luckily for me the rain remained well to the south and as the belt of dark cloud moved off the weather showed signs of clearing again.
I decided to risk a wander and as I walked up the road to the bridleway a Common Buzzard was on one of the fence posts in the field.
 |
| Common Buzzard |
Two Common Lizards were waiting for the sun to come back out as they rested up on a plank of wood tucked in amongst the grasses. Strangely enough both had lost a large amount of their tails, the smaller of the lizards had literally lost most of its tail. The larger of the two was already showing signs of growing some of its tail back and though it hadn't lost as much as the smaller one had, it had still lost a significant proportion of its tail.
 |
| Common Lizard |
 |
| Common Lizard |
I was hoping for some damselflies but it proved to be very quiet for them with only one Azure to be seen. A couple of Chiffchaff were calling from various points in the hedgerow and Whitethroat, Blackcap and Lesser Whitethroat song filled the air. I came across an Angle Shades Moth Phlogophora meticulosa resting up. They are beautiful moths.
 |
| Angle Shades Moth Phlogophora meticulosa |
I could hear a Little Grebe calling and as I wandered along I hoped that the sun coming out again might bring out some more Damselflies and hopefully some Dragonflies. A pair of 24-spot Ladybirds Subcoccinella vigintiquattuorpunctata were mating, with the male not appearing to have any spots at all. They might be tiny Ladybirds but have the largest of Latin names.
 |
| 24-spot Ladybird Subcoccinella vigintiquattuorpunctata |
 |
| 24-spot Ladybird Subcoccinella vigintiquattuorpunctata |
Though it was proving to be quiet on the bird and damselfly front there were a few other insects around to admire. A Green Tortoise Beetle Cassida viridis was making its way along a grass stem.
 |
| Green Tortoise Beetle Cassida viridis |
 |
| Green Tortoise Beetle Cassida viridis |
 |
| Green Tortoise Beetle Cassida viridis |
I started to head back and came across a Sphaerophoria interrupta resting up amongst the grass stems.
 |
| Sphaerophoria interrupta |
A flash of red caught my eye and I could see a Black-striped Longhorn Beetle feeding amongst the umbellifer flowers.
 |
| Black-striped Longhorn Beetle Stenurella melanura |
 |
Black-striped Longhorn Beetle Stenurella melanura
|
My only second Azure Damselfly of the visit was resting up and gave a nice view as I passed by.
 |
| Azure Damselfly |
A Small Heath Butterfly was tucked down in one of the paddocks and another Common Lizard, this time with its tail fully intact, was sunning itself on a mud bank.
 |
| Common Lizard |
I started back down the road and another flash of colour drew my attention to a Crucifer Shieldbug Eurydema oleracea amongst the paddock edge vegetation.
 |
| Crucifer Shieldbug Eurydema oleracea |
 |
| Crucifer Shieldbug Eurydema oleracea |
 |
| Crucifer Shieldbug Eurydema oleracea |
A friend kindly picked me up and we had a look from a couple of the bridges at Marshside. This time the piece of polystyrene, which had broken up with a larger piece having drifted up against the bridge wall, had the largest frog I have ever seen sitting on it. It was enormous and I thought that it must be a Bullfrog but, on looking it up, the markings and lateral ridge suggest that it is actually a Marsh Frog and if so is the largest I have ever seen. Talk about a goliath. It is impossible from the photos to get a sense of the size but boy was it big.
At our other stopping point there was no sign of a Broad-bodied Chaser today but a smart male Hairy Dragonfly was resting up amongst the grasses as was a Blue-tailed Damselfly. They made a nice end to what had proved to be the most unexpected and truly memorable visit.
 |
| male Hairy Dragonfly |
 |
| Blue-tailed Damselfly |
 |
| Blue-tailed Damselfly |
Birds seen this visit included: 64 Red Kite west, 7 Swift, 1 House Martin, 9 Buzzard, 2 Chiffchaff, 4 Whitethroat, 3 Blackcap, 6 Linnet, 5 Blackbird, 2 Kestrel, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Little Grebe, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Goldfinch, 2 Robin, 1 Dunnock, 3 Wren, 4 Reed Bunting, 2 Sedge Warbler, 5 Reed Warbler
