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Red Kites; Photos added 8th March 2018
Topic Started: Jun 7 2016, 10:07 AM (4,183 Views)
Eric Hardy
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We have so many red kites here in the Chilterns that I thought I would start a new topic. They were reintroduced between 1989 and 1994 and have been wonderfully successful. Anyone who has driven down the M40 and descended from the Chiltern Escarpment on the border between Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire can’t have failed to see them wheeling around in the sky. I hope if anyone has any red kite photos they will feel moved to post them here. You may also like to see these websites:-

http://www.chilternsaonb.org/about-chilterns/red-kites.html

I have found them incredibly difficult to photograph and have never managed a close up even though they sweep down into our garden to pick up food. I will however post what I have here.
I have been looking through some old shots. I found this one. It is not in brilliant focus but gives an idea of what we have flying above us a lot of the time.. This was taken from our back garden.

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Eric Hardy
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The moon and a red kite!
I looked out of the bedroom window just as it was beginning to get light one morning. The moon was just going down so I got my camera. Just as I was depressing the button something flew across my viewfinder, it was a red kite :)

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Eric Hardy
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I saw two red kites one evening through the kitchen window so I grabbed my camera and went into the garden to try to get a shot. I wished I had my telephoto lens but I hadn't time to change lenses. When I downloaded it onto my computer I was completely surprised to find the moon. In my haste I had not even noticed it.

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Laurie P
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What a treat Eric to have so many red kites in your area :fantastic:

And what a fortuitous and happy accident to get that red kite flying across the moon at that exact moment you were taking your photograph :wow: :clap3:

It was almost an E.T. moment ... :chuckle:

Sadly, I don't have any photos to add to your thread :sad: (not yet anyway ;) )
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JennyWren
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You're lucky to have so many , Eric . I believe there are pockets of red kites where the locals are feeding them . I have a few flying over from time to time and there is an RSPB reserve a short way from here , they feed them for tourists .

http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/seenature/reserves/guide/t/tollieredkites/about.aspx
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sensiblenamejohn
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beautiful birds , Eric :nod: and i know what you mean about the difficulty capturing them .....but that first Moon pic is a belter ! :clap4:
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Eric Hardy
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Thank you John,

Jen, thank you for that link. Yes we are very lucky. I well remember the first time Anthea and I set eyes on red kites. We were motoring along a favourite lane of ours which runs along a ridge near us which has lovely views on either side. Suddenly we saw all these large birds circling round and I counted 32 of them. Apparently the farmer had started to put out meat for them to attract them to his farm. We had no idea what birds they were and had to do some research to discover they were Red Kites. Of course the V shaped tail is a big give away. It must have been very soon after they had been introduced to The Chilterns.
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JennyWren
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Similarly , Eric .. there was a webcam on a Welsh farm ( Simon King Wildlife site) where the kite's were fed at around 3pm every day . You could see the tractor trundling across a field and the farmer throwing out the lumps of meat . There were a few red kites as you can imagine .

I was going to say this feeding is not a good thing .. a bit unnatural :thinking: but i do it everyday for the smaller birds :girlygiggle:

I did once throw a dead pigeon into the sky as a RK was flying over .. the pigeon disappeared but not whilst i was looking
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Jane
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We have a lot of Red Kites here :yes: beautiful birds.

I love your moon/kite photos :clap4:
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Davebutterflyman
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Beautiful images Eric.

Such a magnificent bird and now restored to glory after years of being absent from the UK.
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Eric Hardy
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How long have you had Red Kites in North Yorkshire, Jane.? I wasn't aware of them in my younger days in that part of the world.
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Eric Hardy
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Yes Jen, I agree about feeding them. We only put out meat for them and they seem to be OK with that. There is a transport cafe about six miles from us, Chris's Cafe it is called, where he throws out stale sandwiches which seems most inappropriate. The Red Kites circle around and take the scraps but I worry that it isn't good for them.
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JennyWren
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:thinking: i wonder if i saw an item on TV a while ago .. that sounds familiar , Eric .. the sandwiches don't sound like a very good diet :nope:

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Night Owl
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:wow: What a fantastic sighting to get in your garden Eric :greatpics: I love the moon shot :encore:
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Jane
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EricEHardy
Jun 7 2016, 09:44 PM
How long have you had Red Kites in North Yorkshire, Jane.? I wasn't aware of them in my younger days in that part of the world.
I've only been in Yorkshire a year Eric so I don't know exactly how long they have been here :bag:

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Eric Hardy
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Thinking about my youner days makes me think I should post some photos of Teesdale. My parents were there until they died at ripe old ages (my mother made 97) so we regularly did the 500 mile round trip at a weekend to see them.
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celticsparrow-Jan
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Eric you are very lucky to see Red Kites so often they are beautiful birds,lovely photos especially the one with the moon :clap2:
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Eric Hardy
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:kite: Why did I not use this emoticon when I started this topic :kite: :Ha: :woot:
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JennyWren
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:cwl: Eric .... we do have many laughs on this Forum :girlygiggle:
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AnnB
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Great Red Kite photos, Eric. We're so lucky to have them round here.
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