Jam with my Dinner

I couldn't have scripted it better myself!

Early afternoon today I noticed a few tweets from Portland about a Red Kite flying around the island. This was enough to make me open our small kitchen window as I cooked my pre-work dinner, in case the local Herring Gulls had something to tell me about. And I kid you not, no more than five minutes later the distinctive 'there's a raptor about' alarm call from the local Herring Gulls got me outside, and a few minutes after that there was a first-year Red Kite soaring above the field to the north of my house! 

It quickly got itself together and headed off south east with a Crow for company...

As you can see from the upper photo it's quite a distinctive individual. The bird is missing a primary from its right wing and the left tail folk is severely damaged. Do let me know if you think you see it, and I will be keeping a close eye on any Red Kite photos taken in the south west within the next week or so.  Wouldn't it be great if we were able to track its movements.

There was another treat today too, when a look through the gulls on the Estuary at 13:40 produced this stunning second-winter Iceland Gull...

What a beaut! And what a productive afternoon. More of this please...