A little quiz and a blurry photo

[British Red]

I'll put some better ones up later, but this was a great moment. If you look at the picture (blurry sorry it was dark and I was hand holding a long lens), you will see a grey heron in the tree. On the other branches are a number of other birds (about 20 or so). This was a fraction of those gathered in neighbouring trees and wheeling. Would anyone care to guess what the other birds are?

Sadly it was late and very cloudy and I couldn't get any great shots but I have a few which will settle any debates

Red

 

[gorilla]

kites or kestrels?
i'll risk a guess at kites

 

[British Red]

Spot on that man - I was on my travels today and we spied a group of 100 - 150 kites at a feeding station. Awesome sight. I'll track down the details and publish them (I need to go back when it isn't half dark and cloudy) but it was a raptor lovers heaven!

There were a few odd buzzards in for a feed too plus two grey Herons (you can see one in the tree).

Red

 

[British Red]

A few more shots - sadly it was very overcast and I couldn't get any decent shots but these serve to show them a bit better

I needed more light really - but I have loads more like this if anyone is interested

Red

 

[gorilla]

woohoo! i'm strangely pleased to have got that right!

 

[British Red]

It was a good spot alright - I've never seen that number in one place before - I did a triple take when we say the whole cloud of them in the air!

Red

 

[jon r]

A one man quiz

How come you have so many kites Red? Ive never seen one! But you have 20 in one tree!

 

[British Red]

Not here Jon - they are quite scarce - we saw them wheeling in the air when driving through Wales - a farmer there feeds them and acts as a release and rescue centre. He also provides hides etc. to watch them. Wild kites come in from all over for a feed - great to watch!

Red

 

[British Red]

Jon,

this is the place - best £3 any photographer will ever spend! Didn't know it was there (its up a little track) but followed the birds in

http://www.gigrin.co.uk/red_kite_feeding.html

Red

 

[maverick moocher]

I've been to Gigrin farm a couple of times and yes its a great place to see Kites close up. Out of interest, if you can't get over to Wales, we have a few Kites in Northants.I did some voluntary work as part of a national re-introduction programme at Fineshade woods a few years ago.A new visitor centre has opened this year and is well worth a visit.

great photo's by the way

mm

 

[rich59]

So the kites weren't there to see off the heron? A couple of years ago I had a huge racked going on back of my house in the trees - coming from a flock of large birds. I thought perhaps a rookery was being set up but then I noted it was a mixture of species -dozens of crows, magpies and jays. It remained a complete mystery to me until finally a heron broke cover, hotly pursued by the whole flock.

 

[decorum]

We were in the area for the w/e in Feb of this year (the weekend it snowed big time - the amount of people who don't know how to drive in snow :yikes and went to Gigrin Farm - seeing the Kites feeding was one of the reasons for being in the area in the first place. Red KItes circling are a truely amazing sight and would have made the trip worth while on their own. We were there in time to have a look around the visitor centre first, grab a cuppa in the gift shop (proper brews in proper cups!) and then sit and watch the skies fill with Kites and corbies. Amazingly (well to me anyway ) the Kites seemed to have a pecking order and we got to view two sittings of kites feeding. The farms dogs are family friendly, as is the family running the farm.

 

[decorum]

I forgot that I'd emailed these pics and thought that I'd lost them when our scumputer died.

The place we stayed at in February has a lake:

Geese next to the canal to the side of the lake.

Kites and crows at feeding time:

Like the angel?

 

[British Red]

Cracking piccs there fellah - I'm going to have to move near to Gigrin and buy a bigger memory card - 4Gb wasn't enough!

Red

 

[decorum]

Thanks Red,
A return trip to Gigrin is well overdue!
At the moment I use a 2 mega pixel camera with a digital zoom so a half-way decent camera's fairly high on my wish list. The screen's only 1.25x1 inch so I only find out if I've got any decent shots when I transfer them to the computer.

 

[scottishwolf]

Crackin pics Red, as always My mate Gumbob (on here but not much) has just got into falconry and is getting a red tailed kite, lovely bird btw. Thinking about it myself now. Any other piccies of birds of prey would be much appreciated

 

[British Red]

sw, don't get me started on raptors - seriously, you'll get my whole collection up here. Raptors are my passion

If you really want them, I'll do another thread, but you'll get bored before I do!

Red

 

[scottishwolf]

sw, don't get me started on raptors - seriously, you'll get my whole collection up here. Raptors are my passion

If you really want them, I'll do another thread, but you'll get bored before I do!

Red

How could anyone get bored of raptors??????

Let the pictures commence :You_Rock_

 

[British Red]

Here you are then SW

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24526

Theres a few on there - shout when you want more

Red