Country diary: There's peace to be found in flying kites | Rev Simon Lockett

Wye Valley, Herefordshire: I have a long history with these birds, and a nearby pair has captured my affectionsAt first glance, while getting my binoculars to focus, it could have been a Liverpool v Newcastle football match. The black-and-white wing discs of the two lapwings twisted and fanned round the pivoting tale of the red kite. Corvids are often seen mobbing a kite, but lapwings?Recently, when I have begun to worry about the cares of others and grown weary of my own voice, I have sought out a pair of red kites nearby. My intention is to follow the example of Wendell Berry, the poet and farmer, in his poem The Peace of Wild Things. In it he speaks of waking at night fearful, and seeking solace by lying down "where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds". "For a time," he continues, "I rest in the grace of the world and am free." Even when mobbed, the graceful flight of a red kite brings me a sense of peace. Continue reading...