# A Skyful of Red Kites



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

We've just come back from our annual holiday in Scotland, but this year we were much further south than we ever go in Dumfries & Galloway.

Between 2001 & 2005, 104 Red Kites were released into Galloway as part of a reintroduction programme. They have settled and bred well, spreading throughout the extensive Galloway forest.

A feeding session is carried out daily on a farm north of Castle Douglas for those that want to come have an easy meal. There were well over 40 birds, if not over 50 who began congregating more than half an hour before the feeding time. 

Unfortunately my camera is only a compact with a limited zoom, but at least you can see them reasonably well.















































At first the lady threw the meat onto the ground and they all started swooping to grab it.

She then walked over to a feeding table and proceeded to lay out a bucketful of meat pieces which they then swooped to pick up.











This bird has an injured leg, so is unable to pick up the meat and fly off with it, so every day it lands on the table and eats its fill sitting there.



















This is a video taken before the feeding started to give you an idea of how many there was - impossible to count, but easily more than 40, if not more than 50. Sorry for the unsteadiness, but it was such a bright day that it was very difficult to see the camera screen with the sun behind me to ensure that I was even getting a bird in the photograph, because they were flying fast.

‪A Skyful of Red Kites‬‏ - YouTube


And here they are swooping in on the food on the table.

‪Red Kite Feeding station‬‏ - YouTube


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## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

Wow that is pretty amazing:no1: I love the way the one on the table is standing its ground and moving for nobody:lol2: That is definately my kind of bird table:2thumb:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Mine too!! I could watch that sight every day and never get bored!"


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## Amalthea (Oct 2, 2007)

Truly spectacular!!!


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## Jas (Mar 9, 2005)

I bet it was great being there!
That farm was featured on a tv programme I saw a few months back, I seem to remember the place attracts quite a few photographers too.
I take it you have to pay to watch it?


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Yes, there were loads of people there with great big f*ck off camera lenses :lol:

I felt a bit inferior with my little compact camera, but who cares - it was definitely a sight worth seeing.

They charged £2.50 per person which I didn't think was that bad at all, given that we were there watching them for well over an hour.


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## Stan193 (May 27, 2009)

I went to the exact same place a couple of years back, It was great to see them, I had seen a single red kite at loch ken a few miles up the road before I went there.
I stayed again near dumfries this year and took a few pics, the adders were a 5 min walk from where I stayed:
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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Yes, we saw them in various places north of that farm when we went up to the forest.

Looked at your photographs - you've got some great ones there! :2thumb:


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## Crab Man (Oct 3, 2009)

feorag said:


> Yes, there were loads of people there with great big f*ck off camera lenses :lol:
> 
> I felt a bit inferior with my little compact camera, but who cares - it was definitely a sight worth seeing.
> 
> *They charged £2.50 per person which I didn't think was that bad at all, given that we were there watching them for well over an hour*.


And I imagine the money goes towards enabling them to keep doing what they're doing at the moment, in which case I'd never grudge paying that!


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

That's what I figures and I totally didn't begrudge them that as they laid out a good quantity of meat for them as they're carrion eaters not hunters.

That amount of food you see on the table has already been picked at and they threw out a load on the ground first - someone has to buy that and why should they out of their own pockets?

They also served teas and coffee and home made cake from the house at £1.50 each, which again I didn't think was too bad, certainly compared to what you'd pay in a tearoom and there was a purpose built hide at the top of the field and loads of picnic tables and chairs where we were filming from.


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

wow!!

very cool!!!:notworthy:


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