Printer-friendly version
Author:
Blog About:
I walk every day, and living where I do that means seeing lots of Red Kites
Some days I think "life would be easier if I were a red kite, I wouldn't have to worry about borders and bureaucrats, all I'd have to worry about is finding food" Then I realise that knowing my luck some well meaning wildlife person would catch me, ignore my birdlike protest and say "hey buddy, it's gonna be ok, we're doing a special program and we're gonna take you to Asia and release you in the Caucusus" completely misunderstanding my reason for trying to insert a talon up their nose as I tried to tell them I don't want to go to the mountains, I don't like snow, let me go.
HugsCat
Comments
I needed that!
Too many days like this in my life, too. LMAO!
Red Kites ...
... were very rare in the UK when we saw our first one near Tregaron in mid-Wales during a cold, wet, snowy Easter cycle tour some years ago. It was very memorable as was the time years later, also in Wales, when we saw 100s being fed when we were on our way to Haverford West via Abergavenny. They're still rare where we live but can be seen occasionally, unlike kestrels and buzzards which proliferate.
Thanks for that little thought. I like mountains and as for snow - it looks nice but I prefer it to keep its distance :)
R
Rare? Not any more
Some Red Kites were released in the Chilterns 20-30 years ago. Since then they have spread far and wide.
I was down on the south downs near Goodwood at the start of Feb this year. That is over 50 miles from their release point yet I saw three in the sky without even trying. Where I live in N.E. Hampshire, I used to see a lot of Buzzards but now they are a rarity. Both are scavengers so I guess that the Kites are better at it than the Buzzards.
Around 2011, I worked on the 9th floor of an office block in Reading. We used to see the kites flying around below us. Most unusual to see birds of prey from above.
Offspring from the release in Mid-Wales has spread far beyond the principality.Samantha
Both are active hunters
but, like predators, they will take the easy option and scavenge dead things, which is how many of them are killed by unscrupulous game keepers who put poison in the bait they've left out for these wonderful birds. One grouse moor in Scotland poisoned 9 red kite in a single season.
Angharad
Kites
I used a shot of a red kite on the cover of my novel "Cold Feet". I snapped that bird in northern Jutland while riding from Hook of Holland to Norway. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00E8ZG44O/ref=dbs_a_def...
I remember the Welsh kites as a rare treat, and the reintroduction in England has been a spectacular success. Kites used to be an urban bird, and they are now returning to that niche as well as spreading across the countryside. Those who have watched the 'Vicar of Dibley' on TV may recall the opening credits scene where a major road cuts through rocky ground. That is the NW edge of the Chilterns, near Lewknor. That particular area is now heaving with kites; I have counted 15 in the air at once from a bus.
In Reading, they are a common sight in the town centre, and are nesting in the suburbs.
I live just north of Gatwick, and remember once looking out of the window of my first floor flat to see a kite making its way up Balcombe Road.
Common buzzards are another story. They suffered a population crash many years ago, partly as a result of the myxomatosis outbreak in rabbits, and for a long time they were confined to western parts (of England). Anywhere east of Portsmouth, they were absent. They are now making a huge recovery, and I see more and more of them over the town where I live. Kestrels, though, have really fallen away round here, but I still see plenty of sparrowhawks.
As for poisoning, we now have a population of (reintroduced) white-tailed ('sea') eagles on the Isle of Wight. I believe there has already been at least one poisoning, and of course, harriers are under immense threat from illegal persecution by gamekeepers.
We saw our Red Kite ...
... near Tregaron way back in the late 80s IIRC. Probably 1988. It was their only refuge at the time and the start of their re-introduction. We were staying at simple hostels so had to carry all our food for 4 days which made the struggle up the Devil's Staircase on our tandem, in the snow and dark with no lights (we were advised they wouldn't be needed :) ) something of an adventure. However, the road is so remote we saw no traffic at all.
It remains one of our best Easter tours. It was easier when we were mere 40+ year olds than now we're 80+ year olds :)
Red kites .
Red kites never left Wales they've clung on with their sharp talons all through the centuries of persecution caused mainly by land-owners and gamekeepers poisoning them.Finally the law started to get severe with so-called game-keepers and worse than that 'egg collectors'. In the 1950's when there were only about 20 breeding pairs left in the remotest parts of Wales, serious action was taken to protect these spectacularly beautiful and colourful birds and offenders were heavily fined or even imprisoned in one case.
Their spectacular return to the rest of Wales and now 'middle England' (and beyond) is a true conservation success story for Britain, but mainly England and Wales. They really are a stunningly colourful bird and make buzzards look drab by comparison.
Where I live in Hertfordshire
Where I live in Hertfordshire they are everywhere. You often see 2 or 3 fyling in the sky at once. I live on the edge of farmland.Some people leave food on shed roofs for them.
We did see one swoop down and grap what we thought was a small rabit. After taking it to a roof it dropped what turned out to be a furry slipper LOL.
Good for a short vacation...
But imagine spending years in the cycle: 1: fly around for hours to find food, 2: try to catch food [goto 1 if nothing caught], eat, sleep, goto 1 ... "rinse and repeat"...
It will get boring in a day, tedious in a week, "please kill me" in a month. ;-)Terrible thing is that many of us live in the same kind of "Groundhog Day"...
But we have books, movies and our phantasies and daydreams to survive! :-)