KFC (Kites Flippin love Chicken)

An interesting Saturday afternoon at Rodley & then towards Harewood for some Red Kite spotting which provided an unusual insight into their penchant for fast food. Firstly a trip to Rodley Nature Reserve, a little warmer than our last visit in January when the ponds were frozen over. In the Managers Garden, the feeders attracted Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Blackbirds, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Robin, Reed Bunting while noisy Starlings and Redwing occupied the treetops behind the hide. Apparently a little earlier a Roe Deer had been resting in the field beyond.

At the ponds we saw Canada Geese, Little Grebe, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Teal, Mallards, a Mute Swan, & 2 Oyster Catchers. Let's take a look.

On the feeders, a Greenfinch

On the table, a Reed Bunting
On the ground a Chaffinch. On the water, two Little Grebe

A troupe of Tufted DucksDuck into my eyes.....
Pochard

Having left Rodley, we returned home the long way round on the lookout for Red Kites. Between Harewood & Eccup we spotted 8 Red Kites in the same area. We stopped to watch them for a while & then drove on. Here I managed to snap three together, I promise no photoshopping was involved other than to crop the pic to a reasonable size.

Back in the car & at the brow of a hill we noticed two cars had pulled into the side & no sooner had we slowed down when from the left swooped a Red Kite heading straight for a discarded KFC bag that lay in the gutter. Two or three Kites took turns, in the time we were there they must have come down 10 or 15 times.

Close up

That'll teach me to leave my camera set to macro! Anyway, you get the idea. So after they vacated the area we drove on & completed our sightseeing adventure by spotting one of the Kites perched in the treetops. Hoorah!