When I was a kid the idea of a Black-shouldered Kite, a species then restricted in Europe to Mediterranean steppe, occurring in the UK would have been bonkers. On a handful of trips to Extremadura from the late 90's and into more recent times this beautiful raptor was never easy to locate and always a treat. A winter sojourn to the Netherlands a couple of years ago, provided my first encounter with the species in northern Europe. The bird was frequenting a dune system alongside the North Sea so it wasn't a huge leap to consider a jump across a flooded Doggerland to make landfall in East Anglia. Subsequently the UK's first appeared, surprisingly, in Wales, but didn't linger. Likely the same bird did re-appear later in the summer firstly in Suffolk and then Essex. Over time it has periodically settled in the Norfolk Broads around Horsey and Hickling.
The population has boomed over the last decade and there have been rapid changes in distribution, becoming a regular breeding bird on the Channel coast. A recent vagrant to Denmark, late in the summer during September, was joined by another and amazed all by breeding.
Despite it's appearance at times within an hours drive of Ely I hadn't had reason to pass close to the Kite and pay it a visit. It was the lure of a Glaucous Gull that finally took me eastwards. During my week in Scotland I had managed to choose the right places to find Glaucous Gulls, they just kept appearing a couple of hours after I had left the tasty looking site. This happened times with 5 different birds, so I was keen for this white-winger not to be a seabird I miss during my project.
When a Glaucous Gull settled in near Waxham I was interested, when I realised I could see it by taking the train to Great Yarmouth and cycling a loop that could take in the gull and the kite I was keen as mustard.
The gull was a bit of a poser, patrolling and feeding between the hundreds of Grey Seals hauled out along the beach, it was looking as northern as a gull could get. Later the Kite showed very well, a beguiling, exquisite bird. A pair of Cranes by the roadside near Horsey Mill showed little wariness of traffic, or cyclists - tremendous views of iconic birds at an iconic site.
Back in June 25 a different kite, actually in the Ely10, got my heart racing. A short morning stroll at Wicken looking at dragonflies turned a bit hectic when a kite flew over from.the north. When I looked with bins as it passed overhead it wasn't the Red Kite I presumed but a close fly-over by a Black Kite. It wasn't in it's full, subdued, glory as it was in heavy wing moult, however a fantastic bird to find locally. Below are the notes from my submission to the local records committee. In Cambs the majority of reported Black Kites are not submitted, there are not loads of records and plenty of not provens, so I'll have to see what happens to this one. I've included a photo taken on the phone as the bird departed that is next to useless but I think does show some structural difference, and a shallower fork in the tail compared with Red Kite, perhaps, it's a stretch I know.
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