Padraig
Well-known member
Helenol is rapidly becoming BF's Red Kite expert and on Friday 23rd, I became the third BF member to venture over to High Wycome for a guided tour.
I actually arrived on Thursday night and Helen had arranged accommodation in a flat above a pub. How thoughtful!
We had Thai food and cider with her friends Tim and Kate.(see below)
Next morning we had a good fry-up in Tim's restaurant and collected my car outside Helen's house. The first Kite of the day was already circulating overhead.
With clear blue skies,we headed for the Chilterns and saw another one lift off the ground near us and circulate for a good 10 minutes. This was exactly where Rog, or was it Deboo?, saw his first one.
We headeed for Ibstone Common, which isn't mentioned in the brochure at the Garden Centre (which has live webcam pics of a nest), but which Helen reckons to be the best spot.
In a field behind the houses we got gobsmacking views a one bird wheeling right over our heads a few times. The black streaking on its red breast was
absolutely gorgeous. We also got the scope on one that landed in a tree near-by, and watched many play-fights between 2 and sometimes 3 birds.
There were 4 lapwings in the field, sounding like a squeezed toy doll when they squeeked.
Then we went into a wood to identify bird sounds and mangaed to get a Nuthatch.
Helen ,by the way insists that she is not a birder. She only likes garden birds and Red Kites. She did let drop though, that if I saw anything unusual...
When we got back to the common there were 2 female Wheatears in close proximity to each other, probably marking out the boundaries of territories. Helen got a nice photo.
We heard a cuckoo and went off in its direction. 2 Skylarks got up and a male Yellowhammer was 'little-bit-of-breading' from a gorse bush. The combination of yellow and yellow was wonderful. Isn't spring just great?
At the edge of the common, Helen busied herself photoing another Yellow hammer and a Blackcap sang overhead. Across a field a female Redstart was at the edge of a wood and kept flitting down to the grass to pick up insects.
We crept along by a fence and entered the next field in pusuit of the cuckoo, which kept calling. Unfortunately, it saw us before we saw it and it flew off. We did manage to get a good view of it in our bins as it flew.
And that was it.
Back to the Garden Centre (where Helen is a volunteer) for a spot of lunch while watching CCTV views of a male sitting on the eggs.
As we totted up what we had seen, Helen confided that she had just seen 5 new lifers. Not bad for a non-birder!
So I was pleased with the Kites helen had shown me and she was pleased with her 'newbies'. Her Yellowhammer photo is now proudly on display in the gallery.
As a mark of a wellspent morning, I composed a naff poem.
Here is my naff poem:
It's called 'High as a Kite':
A Red Kite in the morning
Is Helen's delight
A Red Kite in the evening
Is Helen dreaming
and warning
Of the morning
'Don't drink too much cider'
I try to advise her
But she pours more
Scrumpy Jack Cyder
Inside her, inside her
And she wakes up red-eyed
and sore in the morning.
That's it.
A very nice time indeed Helen. Five stars for hospitality , the weather and the Kites. :clap:
And don't worry-we'll make a birder of you yet!
Cheers
Padraig. B
I actually arrived on Thursday night and Helen had arranged accommodation in a flat above a pub. How thoughtful!
We had Thai food and cider with her friends Tim and Kate.(see below)
Next morning we had a good fry-up in Tim's restaurant and collected my car outside Helen's house. The first Kite of the day was already circulating overhead.
With clear blue skies,we headed for the Chilterns and saw another one lift off the ground near us and circulate for a good 10 minutes. This was exactly where Rog, or was it Deboo?, saw his first one.
We headeed for Ibstone Common, which isn't mentioned in the brochure at the Garden Centre (which has live webcam pics of a nest), but which Helen reckons to be the best spot.
In a field behind the houses we got gobsmacking views a one bird wheeling right over our heads a few times. The black streaking on its red breast was
absolutely gorgeous. We also got the scope on one that landed in a tree near-by, and watched many play-fights between 2 and sometimes 3 birds.
There were 4 lapwings in the field, sounding like a squeezed toy doll when they squeeked.
Then we went into a wood to identify bird sounds and mangaed to get a Nuthatch.
Helen ,by the way insists that she is not a birder. She only likes garden birds and Red Kites. She did let drop though, that if I saw anything unusual...
When we got back to the common there were 2 female Wheatears in close proximity to each other, probably marking out the boundaries of territories. Helen got a nice photo.
We heard a cuckoo and went off in its direction. 2 Skylarks got up and a male Yellowhammer was 'little-bit-of-breading' from a gorse bush. The combination of yellow and yellow was wonderful. Isn't spring just great?
At the edge of the common, Helen busied herself photoing another Yellow hammer and a Blackcap sang overhead. Across a field a female Redstart was at the edge of a wood and kept flitting down to the grass to pick up insects.
We crept along by a fence and entered the next field in pusuit of the cuckoo, which kept calling. Unfortunately, it saw us before we saw it and it flew off. We did manage to get a good view of it in our bins as it flew.
And that was it.
Back to the Garden Centre (where Helen is a volunteer) for a spot of lunch while watching CCTV views of a male sitting on the eggs.
As we totted up what we had seen, Helen confided that she had just seen 5 new lifers. Not bad for a non-birder!
So I was pleased with the Kites helen had shown me and she was pleased with her 'newbies'. Her Yellowhammer photo is now proudly on display in the gallery.
As a mark of a wellspent morning, I composed a naff poem.
Here is my naff poem:
It's called 'High as a Kite':
A Red Kite in the morning
Is Helen's delight
A Red Kite in the evening
Is Helen dreaming
and warning
Of the morning
'Don't drink too much cider'
I try to advise her
But she pours more
Scrumpy Jack Cyder
Inside her, inside her
And she wakes up red-eyed
and sore in the morning.
That's it.
A very nice time indeed Helen. Five stars for hospitality , the weather and the Kites. :clap:
And don't worry-we'll make a birder of you yet!
Cheers
Padraig. B
