The birds and the bees

I know we're mainly concerned with pollinators, but they are only a part of the bigger picture.  Today, that picture has had the most fabulous soundtrack, provided this morning by a male blackcap singing from the willows in a scrubby bit of flytipped woodland in the middle of the 'burbs of Leeds - an unexpected gem that caused us to pause a while, and look upwards instead of groundwards.  Further cameos by smartly blue and white magpies, and a glossy crow, ink-black among the golden dandelions, made up for a surprising lack of other winged things,

..or is this a young rook? Appears to have a rook's bare face... 

... but it was the sight of a red kite soaring lazy circles over the regimented streets and houses that really made us stop and smile.  Unmistakable, and quite thrilling to see.