Crispy Woodcock & Red Kite shadows

There's been very little new snowfall but there is hardly any  difference in the depth and  its still deep and crisp though no longer even. The bird table is still very busy but no new visitors for a day or two. Its been an excellent couple of weeks for seeing Woodcocks and I suspect many will have succumb in this big freeze. I saw another two this morning walking down the road, 1 feeding under a tiny little scrubbery where there was little snow but plenty of leaf litter.
The bird of the day however I saw as I walked down the Front Street in Chester-le-Street town centre. Several Black-headed Gulls were wheeling about and dropping down to the payments to grab the odd discarded chip and bit of pizza but I didn't take much notice until something like a dark shadow caught my eye.  I looked up but there was nothing but the gulls there, until a few moments later a superb Red Kite flew over the shop roofs and circled the street by the library. I was hoping it would also swoop down for something but presumably they were vegetarian pizza pieces as it made no attempt and then sailed off towards the river. I've had a few Red Kite over the fell, including one earlier this year and found a dead one by the A1 slip road not long after they were introduced in Gateshead in 2005 but it would be good that they became more regular here. I think (though haven't checked) that this is one of the Gateshead birds with a combination of pink and orange wing tags but I couldn't see the numbers. It did appear to be an adult bird, though a little ragged, but presumably not the one I saw earlier in the year over the fell which appeared not to have any wing tags.