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Driving North

I had to drive from Essex to South Yorkshire last Sunday and there were a handful of interesting sights from the car.
At Cambridge there was a buzzard over the road while I saw two red kites just north of Peterborough. Presumably these were from the population originating from the Rockingham Forest release. In the same area I also saw a lapwing flying across the road which was probably more exciting these days.
A sign of spring was a magpie with a beakful of nesting material.

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