Flying kites

Bev and I drove up to Aton Clinton (Buckinghamshire) to collect my Dad on his return from a fortnight on Menorca. He'd gone with Sye and Yve (My brother and his wife) but now just wanted to get back home. We only stayed just long enough for Yve to prepare a light lunch before we were on the return leg, via my other brothers place in Bourne End (Hertfordshire). I took my camera gear, at the request of Simon, because he was experiencing a few problems with his 18 - 55 mm Canon lens. Quickly resolved, I was able to spend some time in their back garden getting images of the Red Kites which are, now, such a familiar sight in the area. My gear is functional, but un-likely to win me POTW, on Birdguides, such are the advances in the digital imagery marketplace. No excuses; they remain perfectly acceptable as accompaniment to these rambling posts - but, I'd never make a living wage as a photographer, and that's for sure! For me the capture of an image is an enhancement of the ecounter, not the purpose of my being outdoors. Fluffy white clouds vied with, menacing, grey accumulations as the stiff breeze sent them scudding across a blue sky. My camera settings were ISO 400 - 1/1600 sec through my Sigma 170 - 500 mm lens (which has neither image stabilising or auto-focus since I came crashing down the side of a Turkish hillside some five years ago!)
I don't suppose my quest is aided by the fact that my "mincer's" (mince pies = eyes!) are no longer the full shilling when I'm not wearing my specs!

To a birder in the Chilterns - these magnificent birds are so familiar as
to be regarded as "vermin" in some quarters!

Whilst I was growing up in the Hertfordshire countryside, Common Buzzards
were a very prized sighting - not any more!

I was in  the garden for no longer than 30 minutes!
During that time I recorded five Common Buzzards and, at least, twelve
Red Kites - magic stuff for this Kent resident.

It was still a nice change and I also had a chance to talk 1980's boily making with Sye. I have an idea that I might as well go right back to my roots - there is absolutely no way that the visitors to Sandwich Coarse Fishery will have offered these fish anything like what we used in Stanborough! There will be a Sunday visit to Tesco in order to assemble the ingredients followed by an unhappy wife complaining about the smell/mess as I set about the production process - I'll keep you up-dated on the progress of this very enjoyable challenge.