Red kites london herts border

eowynk · #1 (**permalink**) 26-08-2008, 08:38 PM

a group of three red kites has been spotted by my mum over farmland just iside of the m25 juction 24 (pottersbar) but on the enfiled/cockfosters side. she saw them first on friday eve and was not sure if they were kites or not then saw them again on sun evening and one was quite low with deffinate forked tail etc. they are deffinate kites as i live in the chilterns and have been training my mum up on bird id for a while know. im just trying to get photographic proof but as always when you want them they are not there.

Hedge Witch · #2 (**permalink**) 26-08-2008, 08:52 PM

Good info., there. Thanks for that.

Did she see them from the Motorway?

eowynk · #3 (**permalink**) 26-08-2008, 09:31 PM

no from a farm which has fields that back on the motorway but she said you coud not have seen them from the road but im sure they will show up.

juliejam · #4 (**permalink**) 26-08-2008, 09:37 PM

Ive seen a couple on the outskirts of St Albans..not too far from me..Once you move over into Buckinghamshire there's plenty..Cant wait to see more of them about..

Julie

Helo · #5 (**permalink**) 27-08-2008, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eowynk

a group of three red kites has been spotted by my mum over farmland just iside of the m25 juction 24 (pottersbar) but on the enfiled/cockfosters side. she saw them first on friday eve and was not sure if they were kites or not then saw them again on sun evening and one was quite low with deffinate forked tail etc. they are deffinate kites as i live in the chilterns and have been training my mum up on bird id for a while know. im just trying to get photographic proof but as always when you want them they are not there.

Hi eowynk. What a great sight for you!

If the birds have wing tags, and you are able to clearly read them, you can report your sighting. Further details on the website below, and how to report sightings.

Pete Collins · #6 (**permalink**) 27-08-2008, 04:47 PM

I heard (but didn't see) a Red Kite within the M25, about three years ago. It was near Denham, Bucks. Earlier that summer I'd been doing a lot of walking in the Bucks part of the Chilterns where the Kites are common, so I'm sure it was a Kite I heard. I was surprised one was that close to London.

I live about 10 miles north of St Albans where JulieJam saw Red Kites, and they are slowly but definitely getting more common round here.

Jim Ford · #7 (**permalink**) 27-08-2008, 05:02 PM

Last year our bantams gave a squawk and ran for cover. I looked up and saw a red kite very high over Cassiobury Park, Watford. It was odd that the bantams, 'tho never having seen a large predatory bird, recognised it as a danger.

Jim

Squirrelx · #8 (**permalink**) 06-07-2009, 02:03 PM

I know this is an old thread but as I understand this section went dormant for a while I hope it is okay to resurrect it now.

Incidentally, I posted a similar message to this elsewhere on the forum recently but it vanished when "onemind" did!

Until a couple of years back I had never seen a red kite in the wild. Last year one adopted the skies above where I live as its territory. This year the one has become two. It is fascinating to watch them on the prowl as they either "quarter" the sky or "describe" figures of eight (8).

Curiously, they never seem to catch anything. All the smaller "usual" birds which come to my feeders go totally silent and vanish like magic (same way they do when a thunderstorm is brewing/occurring).

The only one I have seen break cover is a carrion crow. There are a number which roost and nest in the trees to the back of me. It clearly decided the, on this occasion, solitary red kite was a threat and came at it like a bullet out of a gun. There followed the most spectacular aerial dog-fight which the carrion crow won, seeing off the red kite in a very triumphant fashion. Didn't stop the red kite coming back the following day, though!

captaincarot · #9 (**permalink**) 06-07-2009, 03:26 PM

if this is a kite thread.

coming out of london up the m40 a couple of weeks ago with a quick detour round oxfordshire.
my other half had never seen a red kite before, i had having livd in didcot for a few years.

got her doing the count the kites game.

my personal record had been 23 between leaving london and arriving in oxford, about 5 years ago.
this time she gave up counting at 45,
the journey was m40 till wallingford turnoff then over to wallingford, wallingford to didcot, then over to the uffington white horse where i saw my first kite from the hill this time, then uffington back to manchester via banbury and the m40.

i knew they were on the increase but 45 birds in one day was a hell of a site, at one point there were 7 in view at the same time.

Squirrelx · #10 (**permalink**) 06-07-2009, 07:48 PM

Hi captaincarot and welcome

That is an awesome number. Either Countryfile or Countrywise recently paid a visit to Gigrin Farm (where Simon King went on Springwatch) and the chap who owns the farm said he often gets red kites back visiting from the Chilterns (apparently they are colour-tagged according to where they were re-introduced). Maybe they were on the way "home" for tea!