Flying kites

Off for my trot and what did I spot? A whole flock of kites circling and wheeling in the steep deep blue.

They - and even more gulls - were following the plough. When the tractor stopped for a moment, the kites waited in a tree until it got going again - then they erupted from the bare branches.

This makes me think of the line from Gerard Manley Hopkins' "The Windhover" - "sheer plod makes plough down sillion / Shine."

Not much plod these days, of course.

If you want an audible reminder of the poem, here's a rather tasteful reading of it!!

The windhover is actually a kestrel but at the time, I had just painted this peregrine. Never mind.

Not sure this is any more appropriate... she's a hawk. I think.

It was impossible to capture the real majesty of the moment with my iPhone. So many birds wheeling, riding the steady air. But in one shot there is magic - as the wing feathers reflected the sun's gleam.