Sunday, December 13, 2020
A brambling in the garden late on this gloomy afternoon was doubly welcome, as it was my first for two years.
I wrote on my blog that I didn't know whether this was "the result of some natural incident or a gamekeeper's ploy to deter other raptors". I'm not sure even now whether this is a raptor, being useless at plumage details. But looking at it again, what I thought were its legs seem too straight and thick, and could possibly be part of a trap. I wish now that I'd paid more attention and tried to get a better photo.
It wasn't the same place, though. One website suggests the red kite incident happened on an estate south-east of Newbury, whereas we were walking through Combe Wood, which is south-west of Newbury. Combe Wood is, however, very much at the heart of pheasant-shooting country - and walkers there are, in our experience, few and far between. In such places landowners and gamekeepers can do whatever they want - who would ever know?
// posted by Christine @ 7:37 AM 
