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One of my friends reckons he's seen red kites flying about over the local moors (Rochdale).
I didn't think they'd spread this far, and I've not seen any myself. Anyone else seen them?
Depends how long the string is to the ground.
I've not seen this one, but over the last 10 years I've seen two kites in the Warrington and Northwich areas, so they have periodically turned up
I've heard mentioned that young birds of prey tend to venture quite far from home, check out an area, then move back home. You hear about it with sea eagles on the news quite often.
I'm sure there is someone more knowledgeable on the forum who can answer better.
The number of kites you see in the chilterns always makes me jealous.
Not seen one outside of Wales but hear of occasional sightings here in Rossendale.
Seen and photographed in Kent
There's a successful feeding centre at Harewood near Leeds and the populations are generally increasing across the UK so it's not impossible to see one a little further west.
In England the reintroduced birds can be found in the Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire area, Northamptonshire, Yorkshire, Gateshead and Grizedale Forest in Cumbria.
from the RSPB website. I expect as above they do wander around quite a bit when they are first kicked out of the nest.
Mrs Binners worked for Lancashire Wildlife Trust
They reintroduced them into the Ribble Valley and they've bred really successfully and have been venturing further south. You regularly see them at Brockholes, south of Preston.
If you like your twitching, the hides at Brockholes are worth a visit. As is the cafe where the ducks have sussed out that if they approach the automatic doors en masse they can open them then mooch about hoovering up any dropped chips 🙂
@tewit We're in Norden so on the Rossendale side, might be those birds.
Is there anything else raptor-y it might be? I've seen the odd sparrowhawk/kestrel about but I'd have thought they were quite hard to mistake for a red kite?
Not seen a kite in Manchester, only a mad ferret.
See them from time to time in Somerset. Definitely spreading gradually.
Very good by the way…..
Buzzards are a similar size and fairly common here. Kites have quite an obvious v shape tail.
Red kites are obvious. The only big bird of prey with a long forked tail.
There are loads in the North Downs and home counties, they spread pretty quickly so it's only a matter of not a very long time before they are everywhere. They are robust and prolific birds, the reason they nearly disappeared was persecution.
They are robust and prolific birds, the reason they nearly disappeared was persecution.
Any that turn up in the Peak District usually end up dead in fairly short order.
https://www.rspb.org.uk/about-the-rspb/about-us/media-centre/press-releases/red-kite-disappears-in-suspicious-circumstances/
https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2018/09/21/climber-witnesses-shooting-of-red-kite-in-peak-district-national-park/
The area is known for it, as always you get the gamekeeper's association solemnly swearing that they protect birds of prey, the landowners denying all knowledge of anything illegal going on on their land and meanwhile the blatant trapping and shooting continues. It got a lot worse in the first lockdown when there were far fewer people around to accidentally stumble on stink pits, bait birds and so on.
There’s a successful feeding centre at Harewood near Leeds and the populations are generally increasing across the UK so it’s not impossible to see one a little further west.
I came here to say that - we live about 6 miles from Harewood and they are everywhere now - still beautiful to see them circling but now very commonplace so no longer a nice surprise to see one.
There's a few knocking around, I've seen them overhead here in South Manchester. I wasn;t aware of the Ribble Valley birds, but I know there's a breeding colony just north of Leeds which isn't that far away in bird terms
I'm pretty sure I watched a red kite on Holcombe Moor in 2012.
I nearly wrote "a couple of years ago" - but it was on the sad day that two police officers were murdered in Mottram, so that dates it to September 2012. How time flies!
There are loads in the North Downs and home counties
You are almost guaranteed to see at least one on a bike ride on the North Downs near Croydon these days.
It doesn't matter how many times I see one it still makes my day to see them soar majestically in the sky.
IIRC the red kite conservation programme is the longest wildlife conservation programme in the world. Over a hundred years it's been going I believe.
We have the same pair of red kites over our garden pretty much every day - beautiful birds.
We're in Hertford, I can drive in any direction and be guaranteed to see 10 over the course of an hour or so.
I understand there is a roost of upto 60 birds in winter
There are around 20 in our local roost
Saw kites at Drumlanrig yesterday.
@binners Not been to Brockholes for aaaaages. Is it all open at the moment?
Saw one on the Cat and Fiddle last week probably won't last long up there and I've seen them in Macclesfield before. They are pretty widespread around Leeds these day I've seen them in the city centre aew times when I've been over.
Just had one flying around outside the house here. Central Bedfordshire.
Couldn't get camera fast enough though
Used to see tonnes (well, you know, relatively) of them in Cirencester, not yet seen one up here (Disley), but I'll keep my eyes peeled if they've been spotted om the Cat and Fiddle and in Macc.
We have a feeding site about a mile away.
They are like Sparrows some days....
In the last decade I've seen them spread southwards from Mid Wales, saw one at my house the other day for the first time. They spread very well.
Couple flying around in West Sussex this weekend too, it’s actually getting pretty common to see them on the South Downs around Harting, Goodwood area.
They spread very well.
Helps 'em fly, dunnit
@ratherbeintobago - all the Wildlife Trusts places are back open again with social distancing rules. Get yourself down to Brockholes
I think there was a pair soaring above the M1/M18 junction an hour ago. Certainly a big bird looking for prey. Was driving so didn't have a very good look. Is there an easy tell to distinguish them from Buzzards etc, I'm nowhere near eagle territory so those would be the likely candidates.
Have seen them in Devon and Cornwall so they are definitely spreading across the country 🙂
Is there an easy tell to distinguish them from Buzzards etc, I’m nowhere near eagle territory so those would be the likely candidates.
By far the easiest way is by the swallow tail of the red kites
Lots in the South Downs.
Even more in the Chilterns, but those ones are big 'uns. Must be the diet - sausage rolls etc:
By far the easiest way is by the swallow tail of the red kites
and the Kites' wings have a bit of a Jones-bars kink in them.
Loads near me (Amersham, Chilterns). It's good to see them circling over the garden or even clearing up roadkill. They also get the young rabbits in the fields - soaring then diving and striking.
Best I ever saw was in High Wycombe - about a dozen "stacked" one above another, circling above a school.
Be afraid, be very afraid. if you're not careful then you too could be selling your story to sky news to help you with the trauma of eating a custard cream.
Seen a few in Notts, not too far as the, er, kite flies.
Used to occassionally see them over Lyme Park - technically East Cheshire but isn't far to Greater Manchester as the crow / kite flies.
What johndoh said. Common as muck around Arrogate & most of North Yorkshire.
Lots around Henley, was surprised to see one just north of Cambridge recently.
common as crows in North Herts
Loads around Hampshire, sometimes see a dozen circling in one place. I remember when they were only seen around the Chilterns. I was wondering what they did to the local buzzard population - seems like there are fewer of those now.
I don't think red kites and buzzards compete, not diet wise anyway.
In my experience buzzards have spread in recent years in the same or very similar areas locally as red kites.
I would have thought that the red kites greatest competitors are crows. Although they both each have their own advantages, what crows lack in high altitude soaring they make up with their truly remarkable intelligence.
On a related note I might have seen a golden eagle yesterday in the Lakes. We were walking from Mosedale to Bowscale Tarn and above the valley were 2 very large birds. They were about 200m up and far too big to be buzzards. The colours under the wings looked yellow not white, they had pronounced feathers like fingers at the edge of the wings too. Interestingly the lower bird had had some v shaped notches mid-wing half way along the trailing edge. The size and colour made me think they were juvenile golden and the notched wings were just strange. Buzzards are so common nobody would mark them in that way
Has anyone seen anything like this in the Northern Fells recently?
the notched wings were just strange.
Wasn't it just moulted flight feathers? In summer birds drop flight feathers in a predetermined order with usually the same flight in both wings dropped at the same time, this will give the appearance of a notch in the wings.
Maybe but they looked very symmetrical and deliberate thru the binos. They looked clipped
Either way they were still a lot bigger than a buzzard as one flew over us an hour later lower down the valley
loads around my parents near Reading, wonderful to watch. They are mainly carrion feeders but do take small mammals, or as per other posts are getting quite bold.They stole some chicken my Dad had left out while waiting for the barbecue to heat up a year or two back, now they'll apparently take it off your fork if you aren't quick!
As well as the forked tail you can usually hear them too, quite a distinctive call (audio in link https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/red-kite/
I may have warned my kids about them when they were little. I told them Kites only took things that weren't moving, so to not sit still for too long when out in the garden........I am a bad Dad, aren't I?
@ElShalimo I am am somewhat jealous now. I might suggest Honey Buzzard. but Golden Eagle would not be inconceivable in the lake district, they had a resident pair around Haweswater up until the female died, followed by the male about 5 years ago. Have you reported to the RSPB or other bird group in any way? If not then please do so, even an inconclusive sighting may help as you may corroborate sightings from others
@nbt - thanks, I'll report it.
After spending a week on Uist it did look very familiar. By the way if you want to see short-eared owls on Uist don't bother going looking for them. Simply drive across South Uist about 4:30am and there's loads hunting near the main road. We saw 5 on the early morning dash for the ferry.. and also had 2 very close encounters with red deer 😱
Yeah, we saw about half a dozen short eared owls on North Uist at 10am when driving from the hotel up to Balranald reserve. Wonderful sight.
On a related note I might have seen a golden eagle yesterday in the Lakes. We were walking from Mosedale to Bowscale Tarn and above the valley were 2 very large birds. They were about 200m up and far too big to be buzzards. The colours under the wings looked yellow not white, they had pronounced feathers like fingers at the edge of the wings too. Interestingly the lower bird had had some v shaped notches mid-wing half way along the trailing edge. The size and colour made me think they were juvenile golden and the notched wings were just strange. Buzzards are so common nobody would mark them in that way
You would know if it was an eagle by the number of twitchers hanging around......, if you are right it's a remarkable spot
Used to occassionally see them over Lyme Park
I shall keep my eyes peeled then. I've only seen little raptors so far, it seems to be wall to wall curlews up where we are. We did see a buzzard really close up on our Wednesday ride last week, on the old road over the top between Buxton and Coombes/Whaley.
golden eagles have been seen in the lakes IIRC - spreading their range. Don't worry - gamekeepers will soon kill them
I moved to Norfolk about 9 years ago and used to see the occasional one here and there (same with buzzards), but now it is rare i ride my bike of an evening and don't see one.
But it seems to be at the expense of the owl population and smaller raptors, see less and less owls.
we have loads of kites here (Wessex Downs/Thames), and a family of buzzards continue to nest in the trees about 200m away. They don't seem to compete with each other - and don't fight, unlike the crows and either of the larger species
Judging by the number of owls we can hear each evening, they've not affected them either!
@tjagain - there used to be a breeding pair in Riggindale (Haweswater) but the female disappeared and then the male did eventually too. I don't think there's been any permanent residents since around 2004/5
Some do fly down from Scotland, have a look around then head north again
see less and less owls.
<singletrackpedant>fewer and fewer</singletrackpedant>
@big_n_daft much more chance of them being juvenile sea eagles.
Doing really well in Scotland (after reintroduction) and some have been released on the Isle of Wight and are getting all over the place.
I've 100% seen kites in North Staffordshire and friends have seen them in The Peak.
But it seems to be at the expense of the owl population and smaller raptors, see less and less owls.
There isnt much overlap between them in terms of prey or protecting territory. Kites whilst they look big and impressive are mostly scavengers and pretty lightly built. Whilst there have been drops in other raptor numbers I have seen nothing linking it back to the kites or buzzards.
@dissonance I thought they were all keen on a tasty vole?
Kites used to be known as Shitehawks, they are basically scavengers despite their looks.
They are getting regularly seen over Sheffield and the Peak, hopefully breed here soon.
My favourite kite shot, just off the M40. What you can't see is the pile of chips and cafe rubbish just out of shot that it was going for:
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/1898/30989445068_b4da121e06_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/1898/30989445068_b4da121e06_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/Pdr1n3 ]IMGL8176[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/timrusson/ ]Tim Russon[/url], on Flickr
Me and the Mrs have both seen kites right behind our house in lowton, near leigh not far from Pennington flash.
We have sightings NW of Derby and eastern side of Nottingham, and a competent bird spotting mate of mine is sure he had his first sighting over Ilkeston a week or two back
In England the reintroduced birds can be found in the Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire area, Northamptonshire, Yorkshire, Gateshead and Grizedale Forest in Cumbria.
That seems out of date. Loads in mid Beds. Friends spotted them for the first time in Cambridge this year.
A colleague said that that a red kite took a pigeon from his garden fence this week
I thought that they mainly ate carrion?
I know farmers shot them for "taking" lambs in the past but in reality they were usually mopping up the afterbirth not the lamb