WHITE KITE

I have over the years that I have been photographing red kites I have come across some oddities, nothing as odd as the white red kite. This is not an albino,  it is a malfunction in the body geans. A total lack of melanine which puts the red pigment into the skin and in turn into the feathers. Other birds and animals can have it and can lead normal lives with no handicaps. There is no record of these creatures breeding.

These pictures are of different birds photographed over a period of about 15 years. Because of the age that red kites live to locals often give them names as they are instantly recognised.

They are terrific to catch them in bright sun light and so easy to photograph in flight.

They are often in the company of other kites and are not outcast. This one I new well over several years and as you can see it wasn't put off by the camera. I no longer travel so I will miss going to Wales and seeing it.
 

Red Kites

Because of lockdown and my age of course, I find it difficult to do the things as planned. Today would have been a good day to achieve something but at the last moment it decided to rain so I have decided to post a few pictures of my favourite bird. The Welsh Red Kite.  I have in stock over 3500 pictures taken over the past 25years. These were taken on a Welsh farm belonging to a dear friend who passed away some years ago. I post these as a tribute to him and his dear wife Lena.

I had the freedom of his farm and visited him and his wife 4 or 5 times a year for more than 20years.

Thank you Eithel and Lena Powell, long may you be remembered for the wonderful work you did with the rehabilitation of the red kite in Wales.
 

By the way

 

The birds on my having disappeared has left me with not a lot to do so my infra-red cameras came in to play, but now my garden animals have gone and I am at a loss. I always carry a camera in the car and the other day returning from a shopping trip in the next village we stopped in a quiet lane and to our surprise we were being observed. Only a matter of metres away stood a fallow doe. She made no attempt to run and stood watching us in the car.

New friend

 This young for which I named Junior has been visiting my garden for around 2years. He came first time with his parents.  They don't come anymore so he came by himself for a while and then brought a yong fox along for a few weeks. He then made friends with a hedgehog, that lasted several months until the hedgehog disappeared and now he seems to be having a relationship with a cat. I wonder how long this will last.

Old faithfull

With my age still creeping up on me I am finding difficult on some days to go out with my camera's. But as luck will have it young 'junior' has started comming round for supper again.

The infrared camera doesn't flash. It just has a tiny red glow when it fires but somehow Junior appears to spot it some five metres away. We have auto lights in the garden and when these come on they don't seem to bother him.

He's very tidy, never leaves any mess, even cleans up after the hedgehogs.