Red Kite spotted above A65

tilly · Post by **tilly** » Wed 14 Aug, 2013 9:13 pm

cnosni wrote: tilly wrote: vbporscha wrote: tilly wrote: I saw a Red Kite over my house in Pudsey last week I saw a bird about the same size the other day but it had a fan tail.I was told this was a Buzzard.? Tilly we've seen what my partner says is a Sparrowhawk a couple of times, we're near Troydale. Hi vbporscha This bird was at least twice has big as a Sparrowhawk so a don't know what it was.I had a Sparrowhawk on my decking the other day eating a dove my wife was not very happy about it when it saw me it flew of with the dove and left me with the mess. Sonds like a buzzard Tilly,was it "soaring" for want of a better word.I did see a Goshawk flying along Dewsbury road about 2 years ago,certainly not the sort of bird i would have expected to see in an urban area.Saw an Egret at Black Carr,just south of Doncaster 3 weeks ago and saw a white stork at Bramhope tunnel,though i suspect the latter was an escape from Harewood House By the way i was most disaapointed not to get even a dergogatory remark about my "welshmen" pun.Ill get mi coat Hi cnosni Yes it was soaring in fact it went up through the clouds and out of sight. I never thought I would see the day when birds of this type would be seen in Leeds or salmon in our river.

Post by **cnosni** » Wed 14 Aug, 2013 10:01 pm

stutterdog wrote: cnosni wrote: tilly wrote: vbporscha wrote: tilly wrote: I saw a Red Kite over my house in Pudsey last week I saw a bird about the same size the other day but it had a fan tail.I was told this was a Buzzard.? Tilly we've seen what my partner says is a Sparrowhawk a couple of times, we're near Troydale. Hi vbporscha This bird was at least twice has big as a Sparrowhawk so a don't know what it was.I had a Sparrowhawk on my decking the other day eating a dove my wife was not very happy about it when it saw me it flew of with the dove and left me with the mess. Sonds like a buzzard Tilly,was it "soaring" for want of a better word.I did see a Goshawk flying along Dewsbury road about 2 years ago,certainly not the sort of bird i would have expected to see in an urban area.Saw an Egret at Black Carr,just south of Doncaster 3 weeks ago and saw a white stork at Bramhope tunnel,though i suspect the latter was an escape from Harewood House By the way i was most disaapointed not to get even a dergogatory remark about my "welshmen" pun.Ill get mi coat Your "rarebit" of humour was obviously not appreciated! I'll get my coat as well! Im so pleased to see that someone has taste.

grumpybloke · Post by **grumpybloke** » Thu 15 Aug, 2013 11:02 am

There are a lot here in Harrogate. They come so low over my house that you can see all the markings. I can watch them soaring for ages, they just make it seem so easy, changing direction with an almost imperceptible twitch of the tail.

tilly · Post by **tilly** » Fri 16 Aug, 2013 9:05 pm

I saw a Red Kite yesterday flying over Bramley Park

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Sat 17 Aug, 2013 2:48 am

dsco wrote: I think there must be a breeding pair in the Hawksworth/Kirkstall area, I see them swooping around all the time, can even see them from the kitchen window sometimes! Watching one land in the garden of a small two-bed bungalow was quite a sight Yes Dsco, they must be the same ones I keep seeing, actually last year when I was cycling up to Horsforth I saw 4 red kites gliding around over the outer ring road close to the end of Stanhope Drive. There does seem to be a regular pair that live around the Hawksworth / West Park / Kirkstall area because I see them so often its become quite ordinary seeing them everyday. You do still see the odd person craning their neck looking upwards in amazement at these giant birds. Once I was staring up at them and a chap on the Moorgrange estate came over to chat to me about them. He confirmed that he'd also been seeing them for over a year on a regular basis. According to a guy I emailed at the Harewood House estate there are now hundreds of breeding pairs which have spread out from the estate over the past decade or so. I can remember about 8 years ago the only time I saw red kites was when I was cycling along Eccup Lane close to the back of Golden Acre park not far from Harewood. Obviously the breeding programme and reintroduction of these fabulous birds has been a great success for them to have become a regular sight around Leeds and beyond. I'd love to see a stork in the UK, we see lots of herons around where I live, and ducks. I can hear the owls over in Clayton Wood late at night when the ring road traffic dies down, and there are many bats which flitter around the sodium floodlights around my flats feeding on the moths that get attracted to the dazzling pinkish light. Its difficult to identify the bats as all you see is a fluttering black shape which vanishes into the blackness of the night in the blink of an eye. I wonder if there is an Iphone / Android app that lets you listen to the ultrasonic noise they make like one of those bat detector gadgets? Maybe someone should make one?

majorhoundii · Post by **majorhoundii** » Sat 17 Aug, 2013 10:16 pm

The first time I saw one was near Lake Bala in 1999. The next time was about 5 years ago over Esholt. But since then I've seen them regularly near Harewood.

Jogon · Post by **Jogon** » Sun 18 Aug, 2013 4:35 pm

Some BBC prog this week about threatened UK species one being the Red Kite...!!Or did I misread that and it's threatening smaller birds with extinction?My coffee table RSPB volume indicates that Red Kites take other birds "..up to crow / seagull size with sudden ambush attacks"

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Sun 18 Aug, 2013 7:53 pm

Jogon wrote: Some BBC prog this week about threatened UK species one being the Red Kite...!!Or did I misread that and it's threatening smaller birds with extinction?My coffee table RSPB volume indicates that Red Kites take other birds "..up to crow / seagull size with sudden ambush attacks" That's interesting Jogon as I understood that Red Kites, being carrion eaters, do not do that but will though, given the chance, take earthworms and small animals like mice. I've seen a few times now a Red Kite (admittedly always only one) being mobbed and driven away by crows/rooks.Perhaps taking up to "seagull size" they could be introduced to Scarborough and Whitby.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Tue 20 Aug, 2013 12:56 am

Actually I'm currently 'baby-sitting' a racing pigeon from Newcastle that I thought had been clipped by a truck or something. When I described its minor injuries to the owner who I contacted via the codes on its leg rings, he seems to think its probably been got at by a hawk or other bird of prey. The pigeon didnt have any serious injuries like broken wings / legs etc, but it did have a bald patch on its shoulder where the feathers have now grown back and 4 of its primary flight feathers have been seemingly plucked out from its right wing. I wonder if the poor bird has had an encounter with one of our local red kites? Its currently residing on my 10th floor balcony where I'm feeding it wild bird seed and its got my cats carrier with the door taken of where it shacks up overnight. Sometimes when I go out to feed it on a morning its sat there with 2-3 of the local pigeons who live under the railway bridge on the Harrogate line where it crosses the outer ring road. Its quite a tame and friendly bird, I'll be sad when he flys home. If it doesnt fly off within a few weeks the owner is going to pay for a courier to drive it back to Newcastle.

somme1916 · Post by **somme1916** » Tue 20 Aug, 2013 10:39 am

Nice story jonleeds......