Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 51 total)
  • well i didn’t expect to see that this morning.
  • racefaceec90
    Full Member

    just went downstairs to make a coffee and noticed a large bird of prey hovering in the sky. at first i thought it was a buzzard as i live in devizes and they are fairly common here,but as is soared closer to my window i saw it was a red kite 😀

    chuffed to bits to see one they are both very large and very beautiful birds to say the least 🙂

    jeffl
    Full Member

    Used to live in the Chilterns. They seem to be pretty much everywhere down that way now. Reintroduction seems to have gone really well. I’ve noticed a few as far up as Coventry in the last few years.

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    Working Chilterns way and yeah hundreds of them. Where they were reintroduced I think.

    There’s a couple round Woking. Hear them but usually by the time I’ve looked or got the camera out they’re way off  However snapped this fella yesterday.

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    Murray
    Full Member

    I live in the Chilterns – they’re everywhere. I can generally see one just by looking out of my home office window.

    Saw a stack of 5 or 6 of them circling above High Wycombe.

    I see them occasionally too at work in Northampton.

    As you say, magnificent birds and still around despite Henry VIII.

    Murray
    Full Member

    @Deadkenney – where’s the like button? 🙂

    Pigface
    Free Member

    Used to drive through Wattlington every week and they were everywhere, really impressive birds.

    Spin
    Free Member

    Kites were reintroduced to the Black Isle north of Inverness. For years you’d see them there but nowhere else in the area. Suddenly they seem to have blossomed and spread to a much wider area. We had a pair fly over our house in Inverness the other week. Beautiful birds.

    hodgynd
    Free Member

    Derwent Valley …all the way up from Swalwell ( nr. Newcastle-upon Tyne )..through Rowlands Gill and as far as Edmundbyers ..always spot one above Tescos at Rowlands Gill…

    piha
    Free Member

    Yesterday in our small park in Guildford we had a red kite flying about 10 metres above the ground! The park was busy with people enjoying the weather and folks just stopped and watched the magnificent beastie. Wonderful things.

    welshfarmer
    Full Member

    Almost started my own thread a couple of weeks back as they are so amusing as a farmer. I won’t see them all year but witihin 15 minutes of me going out to mow a field in summer I can now guarantee there will be 1 or 2 hovering above the tractor until the job is finished. Beautiful birds but quite comical as they dive into the fresh cut grass to gab a rabbit or mouse behind me and then lift off carrying a huge clump of grass as they go. Often they have to fight the buzzards for the rewards too.

    Had a close encounter with one on the Long Mynd while riding there as I surprised it coming round a corner. Was probably closer than 2 metres as it flew off. They are BIG close up!

    jekkyl
    Full Member

    well i didn’t expect to see that this morning.

    That’s what she said

    convert
    Full Member

    I borrowed a drone (Phantom 2). Sunday morning I took it outside for my first solo flight. Clear skys in every direction, not a person about in a nice clear field. I got the thing off the ground to about 10m altitude put it in the hover. Then suddenly a red blur over my left shoulder and a dive bombing Red kite hit the drone. Fortunately drone and kite survived the impact but frightened the bejesus out of me. After literally 5 seconds of flight to have had an accident was going to be hard to explain.

    It appears that one pair of Red Kites enjoy complete air supremacy over this bit of land and have no plans for that to change.

    cheers_drive
    Full Member

    Stayed in a campsite in Henley last year and the Red Kites were constantly circling overhead. Scared the bejusus out of me when one dived to catch something just behind me.

    Thought I saw one near Ely the other day but I don’t think they are known to be there.

    dovebiker
    Full Member

    They’ve spread progressively from Oxford / Chilterns area – 20 years ago you’d only see them north of the M4 but I see them regularly in North Hampshire, Surrey and West Sussex and as far as the South Downs.  The same with buzzards – they are pretty ubiquitous these days. The rabbit population has notable declined too. The irony is that if I go to upland “wilderness” areas in Northern England like the Yorkshire Dales you’ll not see any large raptors at all.

    eddiebaby
    Free Member

    This chap spends a lot of his day in this tree 40ft from my bedroom.

    Noisey bugger.

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/WWKhbM]Birdy crop[/url] by John Stanley, on Flickr

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    They were introduced onto the Getty Estate in Chilterns from Spain they did want to use the welsh population as the donor but decided there werent enough. Also introduced in Rutland and Yorkshire somewhere I think.  Loads commute into Reading on a daily basis to pick up food dropped in the schools field!

    qwerty
    Free Member

    Saw a pair in the Cotswolds the other day, first I’ve seen.

    reluctantwrinkly
    Free Member

    I see them regularly around Cambridge so there is every chance you saw one at Ely

    rmacattack
    Free Member

    Saw the title, thought louise

    CountZero
    Full Member

    They’re always along the M4 around Reading, and they’re slowly spreading west into Wiltshire, plus the now abundant Welsh population is spreading across the Bristol Channel east and south towards Taunton and the Somerset Levels. I’ve seen them along the A303 going towards Salisbury, and I’ve seen them around Avebury, over the centre of Chippenham, and along the Batheaston Bypass into Bath. Nowhere near as common as buzzards are, but it took them some time to increase in numbers after years of persecution and the effects of DDT. Not surprising that they’re around Devizes, it’s no distance at all from the Avebury area, and around Calne, where I’ve seen them on occasion. Really looking forward to when they’re as ubiquitous as buzzards are. They might start having a tussle with the local ravens for air and territorial superiority, though! They were so common in London during the Middle Ages going after offal dumped in the streets they were called shite hawks. Gives my heart a lift watching a kite in flight, stunning bird.

    hodgynd
    Free Member

    Dovebiker …

    As mentioned earlier ..Red Kites are seen at Edmundbyers on the edge of the North Pennines ..a true wilderness area..

    Buzzards are two a penny in the area of Northumberland where I live ..and of course we have Osprey’s at Kielder ..officially the most remote location in England ..just because you haven’t seen them doesn’t mean they don’t exist 😁

    esselgruntfuttock
    Free Member

    Loads of Kites round here in North Yorkshire. It’s a pity that certain peabrained arsewipes with shotguns think they’re some kind of threat, which they aren’t cos they mainly eat carrion.

    Thick as **** some people.

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    Really looking forward to when they’re as ubiquitous as buzzards are.

    Rarely see a buzzard around Newbury I often wonder if thats due to all the Kites.

    esselgruntfuttock
    Free Member

    Rarely see a buzzard around Newbury I often wonder if thats due to all the Kites.

    No idea why that would be, they seem to live in perfect harmony round here & often see 4 or more of each circling together.

    joat
    Full Member

    Cycling around South Notts, I witnessed an avian Mexican stand off. A buzzard, crow and red kite were having a bit of a set to, they went their separate ways shortly after. Not too far to Rutland where they are quite well established. Great to see, and hopefully will avoid persecution from gamekeepers if sufficient in number

    uponthedowns
    Free Member

    Used to have them flying over our house 5 miles east of Marlborough years ago so I’m surprised the OP hasn’t seen one in Devises before now

    Ewan
    Free Member

    Loads around Bracknell and reading.  Last year or so a couple seem to have taken up residence round at sheets heath near Woking / brookwood. Always seeing them. There’s quite a few buzzards around as well now.

    Klunk
    Free Member

    they’ll  come to and feed in the garden for chicken thighs…. their sense of smell is amazing and the flight skills are amazing to watch, they come across the garden in a kind of “slide” slip then stall dive flare out to snatch the booty and 3 to 4 big wing beats and away…. the most wonderful birds

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    Last year or so a couple seem to have taken up residence round at sheets heath near Woking / Brookwood

    The ones I see are around Old Woking, though usually just see one, but two the other day. Might be the same as the Brookwood ones just taking a stroll. They cover a lot of distance.

    Not seen the peregrines though. http://www.wokingperegrines.com/

    Though one is injured https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/woking-peregrine-falcon-hits-fourth-14772684

    Andy
    Full Member

    Live South of Henley and can usually see five or six in flapping around outside and 10 or 12 when walking dog around Rec behind house. Magnificent sight.

    petec
    Free Member

    Rarely see a buzzard around Newbury I often wonder if thats due to all the Kites.

    we’re just north-east of Newbury, and have a family of five buzzards in the surrounding woods. Coupled with the kites (14 of them over the garden this afternoon). As we’re at the top of the hill in the thames valley, there’s a lot of thermals, and the raptors all love it

    The buzzards and kites ignore each other. It’s the corvids that hassle them both. Despite seeing them all day every day, I still can’t get enough of them.

    Course, you’ll always get some one like this….http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/16308494.letter-red-kite-singing-is-keeping-us-awake/?ref=mr&lp=8

    ElShalimo
    Full Member

    We drove back north from Pembrokeshire today and stopped for lunch at Bwlch Nant yr Aran.

    There must have been 150 of them!!!

    senorj
    Full Member

    There are indeed ace.

    i saw one between mill hill & borehamwood t’other month!!

    There are lots of raptors about in Herts this year.:-)

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    we’re just north-east of Newbury, and have a family of five buzzards in the surrounding woods

    Thats good. It just strikes me that I see more Buzzards when visiting my mum up in Worcestershire than back here. Maybe just luck.

    Ambrose
    Full Member

    It’s quite a show at NyA.

    Many years ago, in the dark days, I stood vigil over raptor nests in the Brecon Beacons National Park. It lifts my heart a bit to think that I had a very tiny part to play in the successful expansion of the bird’s population.

    whitestone
    Free Member

    Nearest Red Kite release site to us is Harewood House. They’ve got as far west as middle Wharfedale – Ilkley and Grassington – but not made it to Skipton and surrounds yet. We’ve a pair of buzzards that nest at the bottom of the field in front of the house (well in a tree actually 🙂 ), at least one of these was a youngster from another locally based pair.

    Often get a kestrel hovering above the garden, it’s usually level with the bathroom window so you can be sat in the bath with a kestrel about 15 metres away!

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Shitehawks. Thousands of ’em

    Can hardly move for them over my way. I once nearly got hit by a rabbit that one dropped! One of the nests nearest to Flash Towers has just fledged, and it’s great to watch the early stages of flight.

    Seem to live happily alongside the buzzards.

    hillingdonbanana
    Free Member

    We are just north of Heathrow in West Drayton and they are a common sight now.

    We have had bunnies for four years now, and in the first two years we would let them out in an open run in the garden and wouldn’t think twice about going to the shops for a few hours… that was until last year when a Red Kite got within 4-5 metres of our fluffy friends before being scared off by a trampoline full of screaming kids.

    tlr
    Full Member

    Great picture eddiebaby.

    Compelling birds to watch, so masterful in the air.

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/278afTR]Red Kite IMGL0101[/url] by Tim Russon, on Flickr

    [url=https://flic.kr/p/278agcB]Red Kite IMGL0015[/url] by Tim Russon, on Flickr

    regenesis
    Free Member

    A pair were quite happily mooching about less than 10mts above the Waitrose car park in Brecon the other weekend!

    Loads of people about and virtually no one realised as they were too busy trying to stock up on bbq food as the sun was out.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 51 total)

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