Red kites

I spent many years photographing red kites in Wales with the help of Eithel Powell a very good friend. I visited him several times a year. I had the freedom of his farm which gave me a golden opportunity to photograph wildlife. I saw the kites which he fed on a regular basis grow in number from a few strays to about 1000 on a good day.

He also had an area where injured and sick birds could be cared for until fit for release. I saw the above bird mantling a piece of meat and not making any attempt to eat. I decided to check and as I approached it I realised something was wrong. I picked it up and tucked under my jacket and to my surprise it snuggled down quite happily. It was pouring with rain and the bird was cold and soaking wet. It remained under my coat for about 20mins while I carried it to the shelter. Kites are intellegent birds and it must have felt safe and secure. It was released a couple of days later.

Photography was good and kites were always present and happy to be photographed.

Plenty of opertunities for action shots.

The origonal picture before it was cropped had around 700 kites in it and this was the average seen when feeding. I have discovered red kites where I live in Sussex not 3 miles from my home and they can be seen in the air over my house so you can expect to see more of them on my posts.

My first of the year

Slow start to the year because of the weather mostly. When I go out with the camera I need to find somewhere warm and comfortable which of course at this time of the year is almost impossible. Today seemed a good day to visit the Wetlands and see what I could get over a cup of coffee or even lunch.

Among the sightings were, kingfisher x 2, dabchick, egret, goldcrest, firecrest, the small birds were flitting about in the bushes and in poor light I couldn't get any shots, the kingfishers were too quick for me(both in flight) so I had to settle for a display by the grey lag geese.
Better luck next time. I enjoyed my lunch though.