We are so lucky to have Red Kites these days. The story doesn’t need retelling here, but we can now look up anytime of the day and see them soaring over the town.
Last year a pair started building a nest in some trees not far from my house but there was no sign as the summer wore on that they had raised any young, but I did put a little carving on a tree trunk nearby.
Again this year they were flying backwards and forwards into the top of the same tree. It is a huge tree, and by mid spring was in full leaf. It was impossible to tell what the birds were up to.
Sadly nearby the carcass of a dead kite was found 
I feared the worst, as I’d found a Buzzard nearby a year before. I suspected foul play but could prove nothing. By the time the bodies were found they were too far gone to be analysed for poison.
Over the last few days though it was obvious that the birds were successful in hatching some young birds as the calls from the treetops were unmistakable. Young kites begging for food is an unmistakable sound.
Today was real excitement though. The adults were flying around with food and the young birds were trying to follow them. It’s how the parents get the young to leave the nest. Wait till they are hungry and sit nearby with food.
So I sat nearby and watched, and listened too. They are unbelievably noisy! It was difficult to work out how many young birds there are, two for sure three possibly. Two adults too.
Whatever had happened to the kite I found dead was forgotten as I sat and watched this family of birds, not long ago extinct in England, leaving their nest.
Rural Reading 