Naturewatch - Red Kites

we see quite a lot of them down here in the Vale of Glamorgan. Wonderful to see.

 

I’m currently working in Bramhope and they are flying around all day

 

Blumming hummah, crikey moses and other such expressions of disbelief.

I'm sat in the car on my lunch break, out where there's a brilliant view. I roll the window down, open my phone and have a look at the BBS. I open a thread about Red Kites but before I start reading, my attention is taken by a bird call. Not 10 metres from my car is a Red Kite, flying very slowly into the wind, almost hovering, the first Red Kite I have ever seen in my life. This just happened, in real life, just now.

 

Whilst driving along on the fringes of Queensbury, i once had a Kestrel flying alongside me for a good mile or so.
It was amazing to see it so close, let alone the experience of being 'escorted' by it.

 

Kites over our nearest village ( about a mile)

 

Was down in Oxford yesterday. There were half a dozen soaring around the city centre - literally over the Prets and Bella Italias and the like. Never seen anything like it.

 

I've seen loads of kites around Leeds and nth Yorkshire, but yesterday there was one flying low over cusworth as we left the park. 1st time I've seen one in sth Yorkshire.

 

North Yorkshire! Really? North Yorkshire is Western Europe's greatest killing zone for Birds of Prey. Shameful.

 

If you want to see a peregrine the best place to see one is Wakefield city centre. A pair have nested at the base of the spire for the last few years. Should be starting again soon.

 

They have nest box back open after work men had finished the pointing work,the male is already feeding his partner which is a good sign of chicks to come. There was a Red Kite over us heading towards Barnsley on Sunday morning .

 

Yes, Harrogate/ knaresborough.

1. The fellow I work for lives high in the dales and when I go to his home it's rare to see a bird of prey other than the odd buzzard!
   Our garden is a regular stop off for sparrow hawks, there acrobatics are incredible around the bird feeders. Also saw a peregrine fly over sat morning which is a 1st for me.

 

Between jtn 40 and jtn 41 of the M1 on decent weather days i often see a pair of buzzards not too high up om the hunt/scavenge.


Best thing i have ever seen in this country in terms of birds of prey is a sea eagle that i got within about 20 feet of up in Skye whilst on a boat trip.

Also seen at a distance golden eagles also in Skye.

 

There was loads circling round at Wycombe other year,infact the game was that poor I decided to watch them instead.

 

The Chilterns and Harewood House were two locations in which they 'planted' breeding pairs of red kites back in the 90s. They have thrived in both those locations, as well as others too. They are taking over from common buzzards as the most numerous birds of prey in several places. They were an endangered species back in the 70s, so the 'planting' certainly worked.

 

They are tree-nesting birds and live in colonies of several generations. It's peregrines which have colonised tall buildings, amongst others.