1.2.24 and the skies around Far Pastures (while not exactly filled) held at least four Red Kites. One was H5 a second was X0 the other two were untagged.
H5.
A bit of interaction between H5 and X0.
X0. Fledged near Lintzford in 2022.
One of the untagged Kites.
A resident Kestrel.
27.01.24 the reservoir this time looking for Barn Owl. I saw two sitting in their box but none on the wing however on the way home and miles away from the reservoir I came across this Barn Owl out hunting just as it was getting too dark to get any decent images. I’ve been back a couple of times since but unfortunately haven’t seen it.
Barn Owl on the lookout.
It caught a vole and flew off with it.
A short time later it came back but by this time it
was too dark to get any decent images so I left it to its hunting.
26.01.24 and a drive up to the reservoir in the hope of seeing some Crossbill coming down to drink from puddles of water. I did see some Crossbill and managed a few images however they were always in the tops of the trees and not at the puddles.
Male Crossbill against the light.
Female Crossbill.
24.01.24 Before I went to Burdon Moor on the 24th I had a drive to Far Pastures. There wasn’t a lot around but as I was driving up the lane to the main road there were a couple of Red Kites flying over the field to my right so I pulled over to the side of the road to see if I could get some shots of them. One was H5 the other was not tagged. H5 is, according to The Friends of Red Kites web site, a ten-year-old male and was fledged in Sunniside. As he came closer, I noticed he had something in his talons and it wasn’t something you see everyday (although if you live in Rowlands Gill, it probably is) it was what looked like a piece of pork belly. He landed on a telegraph pole and he started to eat his meal. Now unfortunately, in my opinion there are a couple of things wrong with these images one there isn’t a blue sky and two the choice of where H5 decided to land to eat his bait however you can only photograph what’s in front of you at the time so I shouldn’t complain too much.
He had a couple of goes at trying to land with his pork belly.
On the second attempt he succeeded.
Another Kite was still flying around and H5 was
warning it off.
I think he was trying to tell me to keep my distance
too.
He was eating the pork belly
But kept getting blown about by the wind.
The untagged Kite was still flying around
So H5 tried to down the rest of the pork belly in one.
He didn’t manage it
But was still warning the other one to keep off.
Eventually he flew off with the left overs.
While still telling the other Kite to keep off.
24.01.24 Another walk around Burdon Moor produced what I believe is one of the same Roe Deer in the same field as it was the last time I was there. The pale Buzzard that I have also seen before was hunting over the fields however the numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare were well down on what they have been.
