Helpston's wildlife
Red kite
John Clare would have been familiar with red kites (or paddock) [click to listen] soaring over the village and nesting in Royce Wood.
The sailing paddock sweeps about for prey
And keeps above the woods from day to day
They make a nest so large in woods remote
Would fill a womans apron with the sprotes
And schoolboys daring doing tasks the best
Will often climb and stand upon the nest
The name paddock is probably a corruption of puttock or paddock, which means swooper.
Kites are regularly seen over Helpston today. But in the intervening century kites were extinct in this area. Indeed following persecution throughout the nineteenth century, the nearest kites to Helpston and the only ones left in Britain, were in central Wales.
Kites have now returned to the area following an introduction programme in neighbouring Northamptonshire, part of a nation-wide project, which has resulted in a major expansion of the kite's range and in its numbers.
The first kites for 150 years returned to breed in Cambridgeshire in 2004 and can now be seen regularly flying over the villages west of Peterborough and over Swaddywell Pit.
Red kites feed on carrion, often feeding on road-kill such as pheasants and rabbits.