Me and our lass were driving over the Yorkshire dales not fall off Malham Cove when we saw a gigantic red Kite fly alongside us and then over the car. We span the car around and heading back up the road to try find it we saw a Peregrine Falcon diving into a farmers field for its dinner. Unbelievable experience.
We had what I believe was a sparrowhawk in our garden few months ago, beautiful bird but unfortunately it picked a pigeon up off fence n foooked off with it, dropped pigeon other side o fence n dead, nature can be cruel, r lass watched it happen n it gutted her tbh.
Great pictures. I love red kites, thankfully becoming commoner in many areas but can't beat hanging around somewhere where they're abundant with no effort required to see them - for example Wycombe, where you can quite literally spot them soaring around from the away end!
Can't beleive, how many hawks we see around towns these days ,becoming so urbanised. I've just drove thru Northern Spain ,amazing how many big birds around this area. Few years ago around Santander ,spotted 10 vultures all sat on a fence. They are big units of birds. Big like the ones in Tarn on a Friday neet.
Two? You greedy bugger! We went to Anglesey a couple of weeks ago and loved the nature. Never seen so many guillemots on the South Stack. The kites hadn't made it that far but loads of oystercatchers, herons and cormorants on the Menai Strait. Sadly I was reading just this morning that there's an alarming number of expected Hen Harrier killings. Only ever seen one male which was while i was driving on some country roads in Kent, stunning haunting bird. Sickening that such a rare bird is seen as something to get rid of by 'gamekeepers' protecting grouse for 'hunters'.
Did you see the buzzards over the A55? Last time we were there, loads were hovering above the road. Went to the Milton Keynes bowl the other week for a festival and they were soaring over all day. I think they really liked Johnny Marr...
I live nearby to Malham and have seen a Red Kite floating around over the A65 between Settle and Long Preston. Plenty of Buzzards around too. Peregrine Falcons nest at Malham Cove and the RSPB set up, each May, a viewing site with scopes trained on the nest and perches. Worth a visit if you're ever in the area during May - and it's not raining. One of the highlights for me was being stood on top Malham Cove, close to the edge, watching about 20 or so Swallows mobbing the resident Peregrine, who couldn't quite match the aerial skills the Swallows.
I used to see loads of Red Kites every day floating over Princes Risborough but that was more to do with the fact that lots of residents put food out for them, probably on their shed roofs. I got really close to one on one of my frequent early morning airport runs to Luton. It was about 4am on a very quiet road of the Chiltern wooded area. I was driving an almost silent Jaguar and, rounding a sharp bend, there he was in the middle of the road, tucking into a bit of road kill. Oddly enough he didn’t take immediate flight until I was only a few feet away. The majestic wings opened up and he floated off into the trees. Marvellous sight!
Posted recently a Red kite flew over the car in Normanton seen the Peregrines at Malham and the Lake district.
Yeah birds are sometimes graceful creatures. But I hate it when they keep crapping on my car!!. Sometimes at work on an early evening, I can spend ages watching a set of 4 or 5 magpies flying about and pecking away lol. And they all even seem to have little Newcastle shirts on.