Even the most mundane car journey can be a safari – if you’re lucky enough not to be the driver. We were motoring home from Harrogate and were still in the town when we saw the huge vulture hovering over Sainsbury’s. It turned out to be a red kite. Recently reintroduced to the Leeds area, these agile giants are now an everyday sight. A couple of miles on, we came to a kestrel hovering above the verge. Our verges – stained with exhaust fumes and strewn with litter as they might be – are an important habitat for the rodent-eating kestrel. Smaller than the kite perhaps, the kestrel’s ability to hover in mid-air rivals the larger bird’s aerobatic skills. A golf course gave way to a service station and then a roundabout. The miles of hedgerows rippled