Saturday 27 March 2010

Weardley Red Kites and Eccup

A short trip to Weardley saw the Red Kites in fine display. The afternoon light was murky and with the ISO cranked up our pics came out a little grainy but salvageable. Lovely to see the Red Kites energetically swooping and diving against the patchwork of fields, hedgerows and bare Oak trees. This field is a favourite with the Kites, full of sheep and mangelwurzel which presumably attracts plenty of small mammals too.




We watched a number of Kites engage in acrobatic aerial tussles where one or the other would roll upside down, drop and right itself with the greatest of ease time and time again.






The Red Kites regularly settled in a field occupied by sheep and a plentiful amount of mangelwurzel. Also present were a number of Pied Wagtail, over 30 in this field, busily bobbing around and unlike the Kites attracting the occasional interest of the resident sheep. We also spotted a couple of Twite in the field but too far away for a pic.




A little further up the road towards Eccup a fallow field held Lapwing 15, Curlew 5, Starling 40, Wood Pigeon 25, and three hares. Here's a pair of hares spotted at a distance. The Lapwing were keen to see off any crows that flew over the area so maybe they're marking this as potential breeding ground, it'll be interesting to keep an eye on it.



9 comments:

  1. Brilliant flight shots of the Red Kites.

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  2. You were so lucky to catch all this action
    Love this post..

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  3. Great shots of the Red Kites! Thank you for the tip on where to watch them, we'll be sure to check it out soon :-)

    P.S., Debbie keeps suggesting places to go watch the local wildlife and more often than not it's after she's been reading your blog :-)

    Paul.

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  4. Thank you all for your kind comments, its such a treat to be able to see the Red Kites so often.

    Paul, you're welcome, we watched 9 Red Kites from that very spot on Saturday, btw Debbie is obviously a very wise lady!

    Best wishes all, Linda

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  5. What great shots of those fantastic birds!
    Pam

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  6. Fabulous arial acrobats...what a joy to watch Linda and capture the action so well. Am I right in spotting that one has a wing tag? FAB.

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  7. Thanks for your comments Pam, they're spectacular birds.
    Frank, well spotted yes it is indeed tagged, Ive looked a the tag reference on
    http://www.yorkshireredkites.net/wingtags.html and I think it means its a 2006 Yorkshire released bird but would welcome a second opinion. Best wishes Linda

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  8. Linda. Thanks for the link & your assumption appears spot on.
    Most of the birds I've watched along the M40 corridor had yellow tags and many were numbered.

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