Country diary: the unexpected effects of road-builders' changes to landscape

Carpenter's Lodge, Lincolnshire: Why was a kestrel so interested in the rising corner of a small rural overpass?The climbing bend of an overpass, in a frigid easterly wind, early. I've come because of an eye-hook bird I've often seen hovering here. A kestrel - static in the air as if on a pole, above this corner in precisely the same place. More recently, I've seen a red kite showing interest too, wheeling and listing and riding the wind like its namesake. If it was a child's kite, its line would have been tied to the barrier of this bend.I've seen the kestrel for years, usually at dusk, against the sunset sky like a mad little spatter of dirt on a west-facing window. Wings frantic, head down, tail splayed. Watching. Continue reading...