Kite over Bicester

[MikeO996]

On the grounds that PHs has expertise on any and every topic under the sun- we were at Bicester shopping village at the weekend and saw a kite hovering above a roundabout (the feathered kind before somebody makes a smart aleck comment). I don't remember ever seeing one before, and according to my 1966 published bird book there were then only 20 nesting pairs left in mid-Wales.
Are they still rare?

[Sam_68]

MikeO996 said:

Are they still rare?

No, they're localised colonies still - that I know of, there's the Oxfordshire one that you saw, one in central Wales, one in the North East and one in Yorkshire (near the Emmerdale Farm set) - but where the colonies have established they're reasonably common... to the extent that there was a bit on the radio last week saying that there are concerns over the Oxfordshire community getting too 'domesticated' - apparently people are feeding them meat on bird tables and they're hanging around suburban gardens in Oxford scaring the natives.

If you drive down the M40 past Banbury on a sunny day, you'd be unlucky to see less than a dozen of them using the thermals from the motorway tarmac to gain lift.

I'm told that the central Wales colony has spread as far as the coast in West Wales, and the Oxfordshire colony has spread along the M4 corridor beyond Swindon, out as far as Didcot/Wallingford, up beyond Banbury etc.

I'm expecting them to reach my neck of the woods (near Stroud) along the M4/M5 corridors within the next 5 years at most.

[MikeO996]

As I said, can always rely on the PH massive. Thanks - now you've said that I have a feeling I've seen a similar tv piece over the last year or so.

[bigandclever]

Oddly, you'd see a few around Reading (something like 60 individuals have been spotted), although the most in one go I've seen is 6. Friends of ours live a bit further out and they've witnessed them feeding in their garden, presumably on a dead pigeon or squirrel.

[Mrs Grumpy]

Certainly not rare in my neck of the woods. I see them over my garden (urban but fairly quiet) and on my dog walks.

I think the Oxfordshire ones were originally released around Stokenchurch area.

[JCW]

Mrs. Grumpy is correct, although we have loads of them round here on the Tusmore Estate which is only a few miles north of Bicester Village as the crow kite flies

Edited by JCW on Wednesday 19th October 19:46

Edited by JCW on Wednesday 19th October 19:47

Edited by JCW on Wednesday 19th October 19:48

Wish I hadn't bothered with the strikethrough now...

Edited by JCW on Wednesday 19th October 19:49

[Turn7]

Mrs Grumpy said:

Certainly not rare in my neck of the woods. I see them over my garden (urban but fairly quiet) and on my dog walks.

I think the Oxfordshire ones were originally released around Stokenchurch area.

Christmas common to be even more accurate.

[JulesBliss]

There is a few that live near me (Harpenden) Herts. But you dont see them often

[Johnnytheboy]

Common in Oxfordshire/Berkshire, only seen one or two down here in Dorset/Somerset.

Apparently they return to where they were born for mating, so they don't spread geographically very quickly.

Big old birds...

[Anthony Micallef]

MikeO996 said:

On the grounds that PHs has expertise on any and every topic under the sun- we were at Bicester shopping village at the weekend and saw a kite hovering above a roundabout (the feathered kind before somebody makes a smart aleck comment). I don't remember ever seeing one before, and according to my 1966 published bird book there were then only 20 nesting pairs left in mid-Wales.
Are they still rare?

I thought Kestrels were the only bird of prey to hover? Are you sure it was a kite?

[Zelda Pinwheel]

We're just starting to see them here (south of Basingstoke) in the last couple of months. One went over the house this morning, sooo huge! I don't think our buzzards are very impressed.

My aunt lives outside marlow, and she feeds at least 10 pairs - absolutely wonderful to watch.

[SmokinV8]

had one over central swindon yesterday pm.

[Sam_68]

Anthony Micallef said:

I thought Kestrels were the only bird of prey to hover? Are you sure it was a kite?

I used to believe the same (all the old bird books used to say as much, I think), but I've now seen both kites and buzzards hovering too. As you'd expect, they have a rather different style to kestrels, though - much lazier wing beats.

[bigbubba]

Last Saturday we saw two groups of four kites that joined up into one larger group over Grantham, Lincs. Yesterday we saw a group of five.

No way of telling if they were the same ones but we did some research and found that Kites do meet up prior to emigrating.

Looked amazing though.

[anonymous-user]

I'm in Maidenhead and a neighbour feeds them. I counted 25 in the air recently at the same time.

[tenex]

Some great pics from Dogsey here.

http://www.pistonheads.com/GASSING/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Issi]

Saw one over Swansea airport recently, west Wales is teeming with them, also saw one over Merthyr, so they're spreading outwards from mid Wales.

[blindswelledrat]

I live in Bucks and I would honestly say they are the single most common bird I regularly see in my area nowadays. And I never tire of it either

[Johnnytheboy]

Saw one south of Bath a couple of weeks ago.

[Changedmyname]

Em.. we have approx 7-8 kites (the red variety) in the summer over the fields from 'r 'ouse.
Regular thing in Wales.