Black- winged Kite at Ludham Bridge

On Tuesday 30th December I drove and arrived at Ludham Bridge at first light, I parked up and could hear Cranes calling to the west of the road. Instead I walked east to where the BWK had supposedly roosted the previous night. After 2 hours no sign but I did see 3 fine Cranes in flight then they crossed over and flew north. Later on a further 2 Cranes did the same thing. Amazingly, they are my first of the year. 2 fine Bewick's Swans calling flew north behind us, smaller swans with shorter necks and yellow just at the base of the bill. Especially nice to see. Also a Red Kite flew in from the south. Just after 10, the chap I stood next to said the Kite had just flown in and it had settled in a large tree amongst a group of trees amongst some Wood Pigeons and initially it was surprisingly hard to pick up, especially with a main horizontal branch of a tree obscuring its head! But sure enough it was there, the fine adult Black- winged Kite and perched back on for some 10 minutes before it flew to a line of trees where it was very heavily obscured but just about viewable with the white breast feathers blowing in the wind, occasionally the grey back and black shoulders could be seen and even the head too. It then flew again and settled in a bush by a marsh where it could be seen clearly, if distantly. After 15 minutes it flew back hovering then dropping into a field where it caught a bird. It was then seen flying over the river to the north, hunting, hovering and then finally flying to a large tree on my walk back to the car. All seen almost constantly over a 2 hour span. Butr always distant and never close. A fine Jack Snipe flew up and over from one of the dykes, I was the only one to notice it!