counting coots

A break from the patch monotony as much for me as for you dear reader.  Not so long back I mooted the idea of chuffing off to the Chilterns to see some Kites, which duly happened although the weather left a lot to be desired.  This weeked the trip was undertaken again with lots of hot weather, a little wind and no cloud.  Perfect raptor weather.  And so it proved. 

Mrs Thing and I picked a spot from our previous sujourn and parked up.  And there were kites.  Everywhere it seemed.  At one point we could easily count a dozen with the naked eye and there was plenty more in the back of the optics.  The most spectacular results came with a bit of stillness and Mrs Things excellent pishing, which may not have fooled the adults but certainly brought a juvenile in for a closer look.  It hung in the air above us for the best part of ten minutes, the air by that time being full of four letter words of wonder and delight.  This particular bird is digimonned for your pleasure below.  Eventually the kites were joined by a trio of Buzzards (Common) and a few of them rose up in a thermal, which also was pretty nice for a city dweller to see.  I also managed to find a Spotted Flycatcher high in an oak tree, which was actually a year tick!  There were other passerines about, but the Kites were so enthralling that nothing else really mattered.