Red Kites at Gigrin.

[glsammy]

Having seen Colincurry's excellent shots from Gigrin, we decided to go there yesterday. As it turned out, it was a bad choice of days, as the weather was not the expected sunny intervals with excellent visibility. Having got back and seen the forecast for today, I'm even more annoyed I didn't wait 24 hours. The forecasts these days simply can't be relied upon, The cloudy with sunny intervals for 4 days have no miraculously changed to bright and sunny all afternoon!

I still took loads of shots and it was a sight to be seen, I really do recommend it.
All the Crows were there, as well as at least four Buzzards with almost countless Red Kites. The feeding habits are all different, firstly the Kites won't come anyway near unless the Crows are feeding, so the crows come first. The Buzzards soon fly in and settle down to eat. The Kites never landed, just swoop down and try and grab some meat, usually unsuccessfully!
As Colin said, the best performance came about two hours later when they come back for seconds. By this time it was quite dark, I was already having to use ISO 800 to get any image, and ground shots were next to useless.

The best of a poor lot:

[jdurbo]

Wow your pictures are great!
Never seen one myself(yet)
jen xxx

[stirling]

great photos graham love the third one,wish i had your skill with a camera,would probably leave the dust cap on.
best from mike.

[wildone]

Great series of shots Graham, despite the poor weather. Just goes to show that even when it is not sunny and bright it is still possible to take some good photos.

Winnie

[naturelover]

fantastic shots,never seen one yet.

[Pete Collins]

I love Red Kites, and am deperately waiting for them to reach my part of the Chilterns! Those are very nice photos, thanks for sharing them with us.

[colincurry]

Graham

I am so sorry that the weather was not better. The forecast on the day we went was for sunny periods. I lived in Swansea for many years and the standing joke was that as soon as we returned to Wales and crossed the Severn bridge, it would start raining - and it usually did. All the way to the border on the day of our trip, the sun shone. As soon as we crossed the border and started to climb, the sun disappeared and never really came back again. Having already driven around 190 miles, we decided to press on (in fact, there was no way we were going to turn round at that stage). We did use the Tower Hide which was more expensive but did mean that we had a clear and uncluttered view ideal for snapping (to be recommended if you can afford it and places may be booked in advance over the phone). I was lucky enough to get away with an ISO of 400 which must mean that it was no where near as dark as it was for you.

Looking on the bright side (pun) you will still have some good shots (a tribute to your skill)and the memories.

Regards

Colin

[rlchew]

Gigrin Farm is an exceptional location if you want to see a Red Kite .... or 150 .

However, I have been there twice and never managed to get any decent photos at all so Graham there is nothing wrong with your pictures, particularly given the "summer" weather we are experiencing.

Richard

[Ollie]

Pity about the weather Graham but it certainly wasn't a wasted trip. An excellent series of images despite the poor conditions. I shall really have to find time to get there myself.
Roger

[glsammy]

Thank you all for your comments, I certainly didn't consider it a wasted day, we both thoroughly enjoyed it.
I wasn't so pleased deleting over 600 rubbish shots though!
I've all the incentive now to go again when there will be some definite sun, (It will happen one day?? ) only problem will be what excuse can I use then?