Red Kites

Yesterday we took ourselves off to Gigrin Farm, the Red Kite feeding station near Rhayader in Mid-Wales that is the place to photograph both Red Kites and Common Buzzards.

We see plenty of Red Kites in Portugal, mainly in the winter, and, of course, they have become a relatively common species in much of the UK as a result of the re-introduction programme. What we hadn't managed to do with any great success was photograph them.

Although the weather forecast was good and we set off in bright sunshine, unfortunately by the time we arrived and were in position to start taking pictures the clouds had gathered. The grey sky provided an unattractive background to what were mostly flight shots but in spite of the poor light there seem to be a few acceptable images. We're still going through them but thought we would share a few here.

Quite apart from the photography, the spectacle of so many Red Kites coming together to feed makes a trip to Gigrin Farm well worth the effort. We saw no more than about 100 Kites but numbers in the winter can apparently reach 400 and more. We definitely plan to go again when we can.