Red Kites in Shropshire

DrToffnar · 8 Jun 2022 at 12:06

413x said:
I know of loads! I've been all over the South Wales coast. I moved here exactly for that. It's the best decision I've ever made in my life. No exaggeration. I love Wales. I doubt I'll ever leave

Always happy to have company if you're ever down here and want to get out

Rhossili (on the Gower) you can see seal. I got quite close to these guys without disturbing them.

Amazing! Rhosilli is the place with the sunflower fields on the clifftop right? If so I remember going to a pop up sea food stall there. Never had seafood as good as that and doubt I ever will again. Wasn't just tasty as hell, it was the view and the weather that made it. Really is stunning area.

Very kind of you to offer! Perhaps next time we make our way down there I'll have to get you to show us the best haunts for it, though we'd have to rent some as we don't own any ourselves. My GF is more of keen on paddle boarding tbf.

413x · 8 Jun 2022 at 12:09

DrToffnar said:
Amazing! Rhosilli is the place with the sunflower fields on the clifftop right? If so I remember going to a pop up sea food stall there. Never had seafood as good as that and doubt I ever will again. Wasn't just tasty as hell, it was the view and the weather that made it. Really is stunning area.

Very kind of you to offer! Perhaps next time we make our way down there I'll have to get you to show us the best haunts for it, though we'd have to rent some as we don't own any ourselves. My GF is more of keen on paddle boarding tbf.

Paddle boarding is more popular and safer really. If you fall off its easy getting back on. There's also a lovely short paddle from Caswell Bay to Pwll Du. Pwll Du is almost always deserted as getting there by foot is a ***** but on a paddle its dead easy.

DXP55 · 8 Jun 2022 at 16:14

Gixer said:
Work buddy of mine had some great pics of the Peregrine on an electricity pylon close to the river Test. You probably have the odd sparrow hawk around too. Have a few here in Sholing. One caught a pigeon and sat ripping it's head off on my front lawn. It only managed to eat the head before a cat disturbed it. No idea why it started on the head first though, has to be more meat elsewhere on a pigeon I'd think.

Seems to be a thing with predators -Our cat always starts at head and works down -He had a big frog last night but just ate the head.

I think we had another one today soaring high but after looking at videos again I am not so sure as the tail looked smaller than those in video but it did have the V shape..

throwaway4372 · 8 Jun 2022 at 16:47

So many Red Kites around here, sometimes see 20+ at once. Got a couple of snaps for the thread while out and about today:

(potato = S10 Lite)

footman · 8 Jun 2022 at 17:15

The reason why there are so many Red Kites to be seen around the M40 is because 4 or 5 (I forget exactly) were released in Stokenchurch as part of a reintroduction programme in 1989.
Also there are no such things as Seagulls, they are just gulls of different types (pedant alert).

footman · 8 Jun 2022 at 17:22

Here's one I photographed a few weeks ago near Stokenchurch, sorry it's a link to my Flickr page, can't link to the photo only on my phone.

Red Kite

Explore mack100's 939 photos on Flickr!

flic.kr

Chris Wilson · 8 Jun 2022 at 17:38

LiE said:
I dunno, the kites here are constantly being attacked by crows. Hell, last night a heron was over my garden, so close in fact that my dog barked at it, after which a crow darted out of no where to attack the heron. Maybe I just have jacked up crows here

They don't call the plural a murder of crows for nothing

Vert very bright birds.

Chris Wilson · 8 Jun 2022 at 17:47

Some stunning photos in here, especially off phones, been holding the handpiece out of the door for hours, and not photographed a darned thing, still just the dial tone...

potatolord · 8 Jun 2022 at 21:09

LiE said:
I dunno, the kites here are constantly being attacked by crows. Hell, last night a heron was over my garden, so close in fact that my dog barked at it, after which a crow darted out of no where to attack the heron. Maybe I just have jacked up crows here

Crows hate buzzards, too. Whenever I see a buzzard there are normally a few crows annoying it. The buzzards just circle and climb until the crows get tired.

I saw a huge flock of crows doing a murmuration over the house recently. One of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

413x · 9 Jun 2022 at 08:54

potatolord said:
Crows hate buzzards, too. Whenever I see a buzzard there are normally a few crows annoying it. The buzzards just circle and climb until the crows get tired.

I saw a huge flock of crows doing a murmuration over the house recently. One of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

Those would be starlings?
If they are crows I've certainly never seen anything like that

potatolord · 9 Jun 2022 at 09:16

413x said:
Those would be starlings?
If they are crows I've certainly never seen anything like that

Pretty sure it was crows, and I don't see many starlings. We get huge flocks of crows here at dusk. That night there were a couple of hundred.

Starlings are spectacular birds up close in bright sunlight.

NotAGolf · 12 Jun 2022 at 13:58

I see red kites and buzzards in equal measure when I go out over the South Downs. Lovely birds.

I saw one land on a house roof not 10m from me this morning. **** me they're big up close! Sadly I was on my bike so didn't want have time for a snap. Their head looks like very much like an eagle which I didn't realise until this morning. Equal parts regal and terrifying.

throwaway4372 · 13 Jun 2022 at 18:20

let's play count the red kites