Unbelievable red kite on South Coast!!!!

[wildherbalian85]

100% positive I.D of Red Kite over farm land in East Marden

At first i thought it was a Kestrel or Sparrow hawk but the kestrel bit was dismissed after observation of the bird, then i dismissed the sparrow hawk also on the behavior of the bird also by that point it was closer to me and i could see it's wing span was approx 1m. By now i had come to the conclusion it was probably a red kite, my reason for this were:

• it's colour was brick red/ brown, hard to tell as sun was shining
• it had a straight tail like that of a red kit
• for the 5 minutes i was watching it i only saw it flap it's wings once, the rest of the time it just spent gliding
• it had black marking on the under side of its wings with a little bit of white - but then again so do buzzards

The area that it was in is probably perfect for a kite, hill's and valleys with mixture of forest and farm land.

[demicav]

A wonderful sighting. I always remember a while back, one flew over the car just as I put my head down. Hubby saw it, I missed it but I intend to see one someday even if it means a trip to Gigrin farm.

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by demicav

A wonderful sighting. I always remember a while back, one flew over the car just as I put my head down. Hubby saw it, I missed it but I intend to see one someday even if it means a trip to Gigrin farm.

It was just the way it would glide so effortlessly for so long

[baggy2508]

Hi.
There are a few Red Kite near Goodwood racecourse.
Regards Baggy2508

[Cheryl]

Lucky you to see one Baggy. They've been spotted around here from the M3 near Basingstoke apparently, and I keep looking out for them but no joy
yet.

I've only ever seen one once and that was in Wales

[wildherbalian85]

Originally Posted by baggy2508

Hi.
There are a few Red Kite near Goodwood racecourse.
Regards Baggy2508

I might be wrong here but Goodwood is pretty close to East Marden, isn't it??

Edit: Indeed it is, approx 5 miles.