On the lookout

Red Kites are now numerous in the Thames Valley and I've often seen a dozen or more circling overhead.
However, because their vision is so good' they don't often come down close enough to get a good photo !
And when they do spot something and swoop down they've come and gone before you get a chance for a shot !
I saw this one approaching, circling around, so as it got closer I took a series of shots.
Unfortunately the nearest it got was probably 300m away before it swooped down behind some houses.

K50 on TAv with the Sigma 18-250 at full zoom.
The K50 was set on single point AF and 1/250 at f6.3 (which is fully open on the Sigma at 250mm)
Even so, this is a heavy crop leaving just the central 10% of the original image area !
What is more, it had the sun behind so I needed all the tools in the Adobe RAW to pull it out of the shadow, plus a bit of sharpenning in PSE11.
Finally, because I was tracking this bird the shot is hand held !
However, it is the best I've managed to date (but I won't give up !)