You’ve seen the sketch (Monty Python – Ed.) with the dead parrot. “It is no more…”, “it is extinct…” and other memorable lines.

Yesterday I let the dogs into the wild flower meadow and wandered around looking at how it was recovering from the tree-fellers damage (very well by the way – Ed.). I then noticed Rosie behaving strangely and immediately thought she had prey.

Correct – she had found a dead rat – pictured above. Well it was there when I steered Rosie away from it, an hour earlier! The Red Kite had found it. Carrion is the main diet of Kites, whilst live animals (including worms) are the Buzzard’s diet, which probably explains why, or how, they Co-exist.

We found one on the river path last week, a little concerning about what was predating them. Google said largely foxes and owls.