Sunday dawned bright and breezy, no sign of the black rain clouds that have dominated Irish skies of late.  One of my daughters had made it to the Leinster final in cross-country running. Personally I have no interest in organized sport, but seeing as how it involved her galloping around the woods and getting completely covered in muck I said we would make the most of the weather and we loaded up. Her race was over early and as I am not a fan of these events we scarpered as soon as we could and took the longer and more scenic route back through the Wicklow hills.

Being flesh-eaters, my kids have an interest in all things raptor-like and as we passed along a valley I explained to them that we were near the place where the Red Kites were recently released. As I finished the sentence I looked up and saw a beautiful sight; five Kites soaring overhead along the top of the valley. With a shout of joy I pressed my face up against the windscreen for a better view and hit the brakes. It was extremely lucky for me that the driver behind me had excellent brakes too. I pulled in, parked and grabbed the camera. 

I have seen Red Kites in Wales on a couple of occasions but never had such a good view of these birds in the wild. They were soaring, playing and floating in the wind unlike any other bird of prey. Buzzards are readily identifiable by their short tail and the way they set their broad round wings with the odd slow flap to gain extra height, but Kites are very different. With their very long nearly pointed wings and their extremely long forked tail they have a way of flying that reminds me of those computer generated pterodactyls seen on television.

After watching them for a while they eventually drifted off to the north as we jumped back in the car and headed south. I was trying to convey to the kids just how lucky we were to have seen such a sight, when two miles on another four Kites showed up on the horizon.

The first time I saw a wild Red Kite in Ireland was when I was only young; watching my tumbler pigeons fall about the sky when suddenly a Red Kite passed through and panicked the flock, sending them into complete disarray. But to see the nine Kites in so many minutes last Sunday really was a beautiful sight and one to remember.

I don’t think they will spread throughout the country anywhere near the rate that the buzzard has, but it will be good to see these birds become a more common sight in the future.