Red Kites, Spitfires and Going Through Tunnels

The well-heeled red kites of both Berkshire and Bucks
have moved up in the world, and wherever you look
they are wheeling and whistling with insouciance,
their eyes on the suburbs, their minds on the chance
of chorizo or pâté de lapin sauvage;
although if the locals aren’t giving it large
and their bird tables simply have nothing to tarry on
they’ll wheel away, whistling, and keep calm and carrion.

Here's one of the red kites that inspired that poem, just along the canal from Little Bedwyn. It was striking that they would be wheeling around over the villages; you don't see buzzards doing that. Anyway, it was jolly handy, because I wrote this one in next to no time and stopped worrying about trying to write something about kingfishers, as you almost invariably must do when you're writing an alphabet of birds (oh! did I mention Drawn Chorus?)

We saw a few more unusual aircraft on our trip east; here is a Hunting Percival Pembroke (Lauren commented on how great it was that there should have been a company called Hunting Percival)

...and here's a Spitfire, not entirely unusual but still nice to see. Look closely under the fuselage and you'll see two camera apertures; this identifies it as a photo reconnaissance aircraft, and therefore a Mk XIX.  I accidentally had the camera set to ARTYBOLLOX mode, which is why the picture looks a bit odd. Sorry.

A more peaceable dawn scene here, because I like it; and here

 ...are Chris and Jinny, emerging from the Bruce Tunnel. It was a bit of an alarming experience for all of us; as I approached it, I thought "Ha! It's hardly any length at all!" and didn't bother switching any lights on. A very short while later I was completely disorientated, and had to dash through the boat switching all the lights on so that the light would shine through the windows and illuminate the tunnel wall, allowing me to gauge my distance from it like the Dambusters did with spotlights to show them their height above the water.

Having learned our lesson, I got a couple of very bright LED floodlights, and on our return we laughed at the darkness. As you see.

Having been starved of internet signal for ages, I'm catching up with a bit of blogging, as you may have deduced from the capricious nature of this post.