What birds or bird have you seen today – communal thread, I hope!

Had a drive out to Martin Mere, lots of birdies, but only managed to process of few this evening from the 500 I took..

Lapwing...

lapwing-0171.jpg
 
These were taken yesterday evening. Apparently, people are shooting Red Kites around where this was so Bestbeloved says I am not to say where. Not the best shots but I was taken by surprise and the bird was a fair way off. They have been cropped quite a bit.
Red Kite-4.jpgRed Kite-5.jpgRed Kite.jpg
 
Apparently, people are shooting Red Kites around where this was
I know ( well knew, we belonged to the same falconry club ) the two people largely responsible for the re-introduction program "In a certain area" not too far from me.
This would have been the early - mid 90's.

Within 5 years they were saying that the kites were far more successful than they ever imagined, and they for-saw a cull in the next 5-10 years if numbers
continued to expand in the same way...

Grey squirrels of the air :(
 
I know ( well knew, we belonged to the same falconry club ) the two people largely responsible for the re-introduction program "In a certain area" not too far from me.
This would have been the early - mid 90's.

Within 5 years they were saying that the kites were far more successful than they ever imagined, and they for-saw a cull in the next 5-10 years if numbers
continued to expand in the same way...

Grey squirrels of the air :(

We have them in Middlesex now, they've come down the Chilterns, into Buckinghamshire/Berkshire, and just over a week a go a pair were quartering the gardens where I live, not far from Heathrow. Lovely sight to see too. Can't get enough of these fabulous birds.
 
Can't get enough of these fabulous birds.
I'm about 20 miles from the release site, as the crow, sorry Red kite flies, I get them here too, at roof top height. ( between 4 & 6, that's numbers not time btw :D )
The furthest north I've seen them is Peterborough.

One Landfill site I worked, not far from the M40 and close to Beaconsfield, ( and not a million miles from the release site) one day I counted, ( the best I could) 60 riding the same thermal.
Early morning the small copse at this site looked like a rookery while they were waiting for the sun to warm up the ground, waiting for the thermals...

I've nothing against them, don't get me wrong, but I do wonder if the native carrion feeders are suffering?
 
Several years ago now I was driving to Oxfordshire on business and started seeing red kites in and around the trees along the road. At first I was really excited as I'd only ever seen the occasional single bird up in Scotland. I'd never seen one up close as I did that day. There were just more and more of them, until after a couple of miles I was seeing red kites, but no other birds at all............... I don't know what effect, if any, they actually have on other birds.
 
To be fair, I thought they were native, originally.
Yes they **died out, and the re-introduction stock is from Spanish origin...

It didn't realise it was that long ago TBH ...
From the web.
**As the kite became rarer, it became a target for taxidermists and egg collectors, whose actions hastened the species towards extinction.
Consequently, the red kite became extinct in England in 1871 and in Scotland in 1879.
 
I know ( well knew, we belonged to the same falconry club ) the two people largely responsible for the re-introduction program "In a certain area" not too far from me.
This would have been the early - mid 90's.

Within 5 years they were saying that the kites were far more successful than they ever imagined, and they for-saw a cull in the next 5-10 years if numbers
continued to expand in the same way...

Grey squirrels of the air :(

Get a lot of red kites here now, usually see a pair circling the area every day, have become such a common site I suppose I don’t tend to notice them anymore
 
Couple from earlier. The dunnocks are quite common but elusive. The other, I think, is a sparrowhawk. This is the first time I have seen one around here in 20 years so lucky to get a picture at all !

Dunnock2 by gazzer48, on Flickr

SH1 by gazzer48, on Flickr

Lovely shot of the bird of prey
 
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