Wildlife on the Thames

I have had a very exciting week as I have been on holiday on a motor boat travelling on the River Thames around Oxford.

We have seen a large variety of wildlife including numerous herons, one was sat on it's rather messy nest high in a tree which was over hanging the river. I have never seen a heron's nest before and was surprised how large it was.

One afternoon as we were heading from Abingdon to Benson I saw several birds of prey soaring over farmland, at first I thought they were buzzards but when I looked more closely I could see the shaped tail and white patches of feathers on their underwings and realised they were red kites.

Two hundred and fifty years ago in Scotland and England red kites were a common sight but they were heavily hunted and more recently red kite numbers have dropped due to poor habitat conditions and the use of pesticides. Since 1989 several wildlife charities have worked to re-establish healthy habitats for red kites and created a re-introduction programme. The red kite population is now increasing and it is thought that there is a population of more than 2000 in the UK. I feel very lucky to have seen them.