A Black-winged Kite was video-ed this morning, flying west at Glan Mule, but it has disappeared towards Newtown. These beautiful raptors are rapidly spreading north through France, and have recently reached the Calais area. It is a species widely expected to spread to the UK soon. They bear no resemblance to Red Kites, being more like a male Hen Harrier in colouration, and frequently hovering. I am trying to discover if there are any captive UK birds gone missing, but there are very few held in captivity. I attach a photo from eBird, but anyone with a Twitter account can watch today's footage by following @RDMECOLOGY
An update: it is almost certain that this is a wild bird and not of captive origin. There are very few Black-winged Kites held in captivity, and none appears to be missing. Also, there was an unconfirmed sighting of BwK outside Felixstowe, Suffolk on 16 Apr. This is likely to be the same bird, heading west. Felixstowe is very close to the Netherlands, where there have been "lots of records recently," according to BBRC. The British Birds Rarities Committee are considering the case, and are likely to confirm this as a FIRST RECORD FOR THE UK!
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