Red Kites in Reading

[WiseOwl]

Hi,

I will be in Reading this coming Saturday, and would love to catch up with some Kites, and hopefully get some photos.

Im travelling by rail, so somewhere i can get to easily would be great.

Are there any good spots near to Readings Football ground, and any good spots for general Birding, Gravel pits ect.

Thanks for your help.

Den

[RobinD]

Hi Den,

Down for the Villa game? Hopefully we'll be back with you next season ;)

Kites can be seen pretty much anywhere around Reading at any time, but you cannot really guarantee them. Over the stadium is a good a bet as anywhere!

The stadium is on the southern edge of Reading. If you are walking from the station (about two miles) you will come down the A33 Reading relief road. This is a general map: http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=reading&countryCode=GB#map=51.43108,-0.98162|15|4&loc=GB:51.45499:-0.96926:14|reading|Reading,%20Berkshire,%20England ,%20RG1%202 To the west of this is Fobney meadows which has wetland/scrub species and often Little Egret. Hobby and Kite possible here.

A little further west are the Burghfield Gravel pits, north of the M4 and Pingewood GPs to the south. All are good for general birding, although you may struggle to find Nightingale this late.

For a bit more info, start at: http://www.birdsofberkshire.co.uk/Theale%20MI.htm

http://www.berksbirds.co.uk/ has all the latest Berkshire sightings.

If you want really good views of Kites, come to the Chilterns, let me know if you need any sites...

ATB

Robin

[stuart C smith]

over woodley town centre many times every day [cant go wrong], dinton pastures l. n. r. is on the edge of woodley which itself is just two miles outside reading.

[WiseOwl]

Thanks guys!

Yeah, im down for the Villa game....hopefully we will come back with Nicky Shoreys signature lol.

Ive been through Reading loads of times on my frequent jaunts to the south-west, often seeing Kites drifting around, and thought this would be a good opportunity to try and get some shots of them, and anything else!

The pits adjacent the ground and Hosehill look good. Is there anything else to look out for besides birds, such as Butterflies and Dragonflies?

Can i access these areas from the Canal?

Regards

Den

[RobinD]

Yes, you can access the pits from the Kennet and Avon.

The area is good for dragons and damsels, nothing special for butterflies - see http://www.freewebs.com/tabcg/hosehilllnrspecieslists.htm
for the species list for Hosehill NR (and more info about the pits).

Hope you like the area - we have been battling plans by Prudential to build several thousand homes on it (a floodplain!) with some recent success!

You may well need a new left back - hopefully Bouma will recover but it looked bad! Siddy may get a 'warm' reception!

Hope it's a good game and a good trip - I'll be in north Wales by then!

ATB

Robin

[Johnny Allan]

Hi there,

I'm trying to find out which Counties still use the Watsonian Vice County system to record birds in and which go by whatever the political boundary may change to (and why).

The Watsonian Vice County system was set to accurately record and compare historical and modern data and it seems that there can be/is confusion when some counties no longer use this system whilst others do. Does anyone in your county have a view on this ? Discussion here if anyone has a comment:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=142074

ps this is not about getting more or less county ticks, more a question about uniformity in recording.

Johnny Allan

[markchefblanc]

Hi , I have been driving in Reading today and just opposite the Football club on the other side of the A33 I have seen several Kites [10 maybe] and Hundreds of Crows, Rooks circling around the air, the Kites chasing the odd crow here and there and crows chasing them... quite amazing to see this site in hte middle of suburbia. I stopped off and took some footage on my phone. It transpired that many of the crows were congregating around a walled fenced off area adjacent to a car dealership. What this was I dont know. There also a stench in the air of rotting flesh or sewarige... couldnt be sure.. but anyway seems this part of Reading is great for Kite watching on a hot day , as ive seen them before... Mark w