‘A red kite stole my mother-in-law’s sausage rolls’
The mysterious origin of a sausage roll which found its way into the talons of a hungry red kite has been solved – after a man recognised it as his mother-in-law’s.
John Oxenham saw the widely shared photos of the bird of prey clutching the baked snack and knew immediately where they’d come from.
The 67-year-old explained that he often leaves food scraps in his and wife Samantha Frewin’s garden in South Newington, and recognised the kite that took them.
Having visited Mrs Frewin’s mother, June, at her home in Kent on Mother’s Day, they returned home with a tub of her homemade sausage rolls.
Two days later, Mr Oxenham left some of the baked goods out in the garden for the birds.
Then, after arriving in Cornwall for a getaway the following day, the couple came across photos of the kite clutching a snack that looked ever-so-familiar.
Mr Oxenham, a retired commercial pilot, said: “My wife showed me the pictures and said: ‘This story about the kite is going mad!’.
“You can see it was my mother-in-law’s – they’re pale in colour.”
Mrs Frewin, 47, said she first noticed the photo being shared on Instagram.
“As soon as I saw the photo, I thought: ‘Oh no... That’s one of my mum’s sausage rolls’,” the retired HMRC worker said.
“Sam showed me the picture,” Mr Oxenham added.
“It was instantly recognisable. I said: ‘That’s our kite with your mum’s sausage roll’.
“I thought I would put the world right on where it came from.
“I’m just glad he wasn’t photographed with some naan bread in its talons... The ravens love their curry!
“At least the red kite found a nice source of food... What would she rather have, a manky mouse or a nice sausage roll?”
Amateur photographer Mark Hopkins snapped the hungry bird of prey in his garden in Ruscote when the giant bird soared overhead.
Mark, 57, a welder, said: “There are often kites flying over us, but I’ve never seen this before.
“There was one huge red kite that banked up in front of me and it was clearly holding something in its talons.
“I wasn’t sure what it was at first but looking at the pictures on my camera it was obvious it was a sausage roll.
“Whether it had snatched it out of someone’s hand or picked it up off the floor I don’t know but it did look fresh.
“It was a remarkable thing to see and I’m just so happy I had my camera ready at the right time.”
There are an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 breeding pairs of red kites in the UK with increasing numbers living in urban areas.