Red Kite over Reading Town Centre

This morning at 6:40 I was walking briskly along King's Road past the Huntley and Palmer building when  I noticed a large bird of prey high in the direction of  the town centre.  Its forked tail indicated that it was a red kite.  It was drifting in the cold easterly breeze, circling here and there.  I stopped to watch it for a couple of minutes.  It had a large gap in the feathers on the trailing edge of its left wing but this didn't seem to hinder its flying at all: it soared effortlessly, looking down all the time (maybe for stray chicks on the Kennet?).  Eventually I had to hurry on to catch my train.