He's looking good.
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Friends of Red Kites - in the North East of England (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter June Atkinson
- Start date
He's looking good.
dannyboy
Well-known member
Bit of a worry with his right wing Mick it seems to droop after flying even short distances I'm out to try and find him over the weekend to see how he is getting on
He probably needs to build his muscles up again after the impact and that will take time. At least this didn't happen over winter or at a time when he had young to feed.
dannyboy
Well-known member
Mick apparently Harold has seen him I think on Thursday flying and "playing with a friend" sounds hopeful. You might be right, time may well sort him out.
dannyboy
Well-known member
Looks like some item of clothing Mick but wouldn't like to say what they have strange tastes.:eek!:
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
Any news on the success of the 2015 breeding season, or is it a bit too early to tell yet?
dannyboy
Well-known member
It has not been a good season at all with failed nests and some deaths of chicks. We think this will be down to the damp cold weather at the critical breeding time. Other parts of the country have experienced similar poor breeding seasons. A full report will appear in the Friends of Red Kites website soon. I will post here when it is available.
Paul
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
Any updates?
Last year''s details were posted in July last year
Last year''s details were posted in July last year
dannyboy
Well-known member
Any updates?
Last year''s details were posted in July last year
Sorry we are a bit behind this year I will get details posted as soon as I can
Paul
dannyboy
Well-known member
Any updates?
Last year''s details were posted in July last year
Only seven nests were available to ring and wing tag chicks. Of the nineteen known nests which got to the incubation stage, nine subsequently failed and the three remaining were either difficult climbs or the resident did not want the chicks tagged.
The high failure rate, nearly 50% of nests that got to the incubation stage could have been caused by a combination of bad weather, predation and human disturbance. Gale-force winds in the middle of May were responsible for blowing out two chicks and a brooding female from one of the nests. The two chicks didn't survive but the female was returned back into the wild after rehab for an injured eye.
Only six nestlings were wing-tagged with a further six were ringed as well. Those chicks that were ringed only were either too small or too big to wing tag. Laying dates must have varied quite a bit this spring for there to be such an age spread in the chicks.
One nest had a brood of four chicks, which is our biggest brood ever. Only one of the brood was ringed and tagged. The other three were ringed only.
The high failure rate seems to match other area's of the country where monitoring occurs.
Paul
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Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
Thanks!, if rather depressing news :-C
dannyboy
Well-known member
It has certainly been frustrating and depressing for all involved in the monitoring. I have been to nests where I have seen chicks then returned to find them dead or with no activity around the nests indicating late failure. It does seem to be a national problem this year so hopefully next year the birds will fare better
The only potential good news from this year is the fact that there does appear to be more territories in the area. We have not found nests in these but it does not mean there has not been successful breeding in these territories. Maybe the roost watches starting at the end of this month will give us an indication of how numbers are doing
Paul
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Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
Sounds worryingly like illegal persecution - parent birds killed away from the nest by poison bait.
dannyboy
Well-known member
No the nests I saw looked more like natural predation either other birds or maybe squirrels.
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
That's a relief!
More dead Red Kites, again illegally poisoned by people who remain nameless and faceless.
http://raptorpolitics.org.uk/2015/0...-year-just-reported-to-the-public/#more-18730
http://raptorpolitics.org.uk/2015/0...-year-just-reported-to-the-public/#more-18730
dannyboy
Well-known member
Nice one Mick - Beat me to it
It's sickening news once again, I'm sure one of the three was found on the edge of a grouse moor. I wonder when the law breakers who killed these are going to be arrested. I'll not hold my breath on the outcome of that.
You would think in this day and age we'd have trained a dog or two to sniff out these illegal substances.
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
Looking like my fears were justified after all :-C :-C :-C
