Glimpses of the otherworldly
by Carey Davies from on (#ZHKR)
Washburn Valley, North Yorkshire On the surface, the environs seem an appropriate home for these unhurried birds
It emerges from somewhere in the bare oak branches above with the slow, sliding grace of an airship. Within moments it has taken its place high in the huge midwinter sky, which today is hectic with rowdy winds, long trains of cumulus and meteoric bursts of sunshine.
Red kites are Britain's most graceful gliders. This one appears to balance effortlessly in the energetic air, its forked tail twisting, but its wide wings almost still. Sometimes they seem not quite of this world. The bird is aggressively mobbed by loud, restive crows, but it drifts through them with a characteristic zen-like detachment, literally unflappable.
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