Northern Kites (1 Viewer)

[June Atkinson]

Meet the chick

Hi June

I did not see this thread until now about the issues about Kites. Chicks are flourishing, yes, and are the birds have been breeding successfully

It is very interesting to know what has been happening with these birds at the moment. :t:

Thank you for all your information, and the time you have taken to post it. It has been very interesting to read.

If I come your way, yes I Will pop in for a visit anytime.

Will keep my eye on more updates on this thread now. :t:

Regards
Kathy

Good to hear from you Kathy. Here are some images of our eleven chicks born and tagged this spring.

 

[Peewit]

Good to hear from you Kathy. Here are some images of our eleven chicks born and tagged this spring.

hi June

Thank you for showing them here - made me smile a lot o

Awwwhh look at them. I will keep my fingers crossed that they are all healthy and have happy lives. They so deserve that as they are such beautiful birds (I have lived along beside Kites for 2 years - while living in Scotland. I saw them every day. Miss that a lot, as I live in a built up area now :-C )

Can I ask when they are old enough to fend for themselves, or is it when it they are ready?

Greatly appreciated :t:

Regards
Kathy

 

[charlierocky]

It's so good to see one perched for a change..........thanks for your message.
Our WT 2, Scarlet is the bird which, when very young flew 2,000 miles in the UK (Gateshead-Wales-Chilterns-Gateshead-Harewood-Gateshead and finally back to Harewood where she teamed up with an untagged bird last year and raised two young. This spring she has also raised two chicks. Clever girl!!
I should think the WT15 must be a Yorkshire kite.

If you get a chance to see the tag colours, our combination for 2007 is purple/pink.
If ever you come this way, do get in touch, and we can give you more info on our Kite situation.:t:

Thank you June I may well hold you to that one day. As for the colours of the tags, I did see it but after a week I've forgotten for sure, I think it was either black or red? if that helps.
I can however return some chick pictures from this year although not a Red Kite. They are from where I work?

 

[salty]

superb news about this years batch of young


im sure we will have another mild winter too (yes, even up on barlow fell!), so the future looks bright for these birds.

 

[June Atkinson]

Super images

Thank you June I may well hold you to that one day. As for the colours of the tags, I did see it but after a week I've forgotten for sure, I think it was either black or red? if that helps.
I can however return some chick pictures from this year although not a Red Kite. They are from where I work?

Thanks so much for sharing these - wonderful close-ups. Love the babies!!:t:

 

[June Atkinson]

superb news about this years batch of young


I'm sure we will have another mild winter too (yes, even up on barlow fell!), so the future looks bright for these birds.

Leonard and I went to Chaplin's for lunch on Saturday - well looked after - then did a tour around the usual Kiting haunts.

We got to Rowlands Gill at about 4p.m. It looks very much as though the birds are preparing to use Sherburn Towers again as their winter Roost.

Three flew in from the left of the farm opposite the Bus Stop, then five appeared leisurely from the right-hand side. We had wonderful views as they soared, circled, and occasionally had mock fights with corvids.

So, keep a look out, beginning at about two hours before sunset. This is when they begin drifting in to the pre-roost sites in and around the Bus Stop and Spen Bank wood. May see you there one day.

In Thornley Woods Hide we met Ray Wilby, who managed to get a shot of our new Baby A1, which reassured us that the chick is thriving!!

As the babies are not wearing transmitters (too risky fitting the harness when they were tagged and ringed as they were too young) we rely on seeing the Wing Tags. Here are their numbers again,to help folk to refer to them if they happen to see them out in the wild.

A0 - Gateshead
A1 - Gateshead
A2 - Gateshead
A3 - Gateshead
A4 - Gateshead
A5 - Northumberland (Wylam)
A6 - Gateshead
A7 - Teesdale
B0 - Gateshead
B1 - Gateshead

I attach a photo of Ken, Judy and Caroline, tracking from the Bus Stop.

 

[June Atkinson]

New Tracking up-date 15 October

Courtesy of Ken Sanderson

The kites were fairly active today with eight being recorded in the Barlow Burn, Bibs ( B1) being one of them and sixteen in the Lower Derwent Valley. Although we got good views of WT76 whilst he was perched and flying near the Black Horse the best views were to be had from either side of the top farm track leading from Thornley Kennels down to Sherburn Towers farm. There were up to ten kites in this area, foraging and feeding on recently seeded winter cereal fields.

At about 17.15hrs I was at Sherburn Towers bus terminal for a roost check and kites had already started to come in. In total I recorded twenty seven birds, this included visual sightings of two of our juveniles A2 (Gibside chick) and A5 (Cattyside wood, Wylam chick) and also one of a Yorkshire kite, Orange/Green WT1. Simon and Lou Withrington had observed a kite recently with an orange left wing tag so this is very likely the same bird. This is the first record of a Yorkshie kite on our patch.

Other kites identified by reading of wing tags were: WT87, WT33, WT74, WT81, WT42 and WT51.

I also got a signal fom WT54 at roost. The transmitter has not been working on this kite for quite some time so it is possible that it has started working again intermittently or there could be another kite in the area on the same frequency.


So it looks as if the kites are going to use the woods at Sherburn Towers again for their Winter Roost. This means that people will be easily able to see them from the Bus Stop!:t:

 

[IanF]

A7 sighting

I had a ride up to Eggleston in Teesdale today where I came across A7 putting on a good display. It flew along side the road the whole way from Blackton to Sharnberry - for over 3 miles and 40-50yds from the road switching from side to side! It wasn't just showing off, it was busy hunting and I dare say simply enjoying the flight as there was quite a strong wind today. It dropped to the ground a couple of times for several minutes before resuming it's journey up the valley. It eventually flew down Sharnberry towards Hamsterley Forest.

I later realised A7 is one of the birds about to be released after being tagged in the photos in June's post at 20:00hrs on 25th July.

 

[Peewit]

I had a ride up to Eggleston in Teesdale today where I came across A7 putting on a good display. It flew along side the road the whole way from Blackton to Sharnberry - for over 3 miles and 40-50yds from the road switching from side to side! It wasn't just showing off, it was busy hunting and I dare say simply enjoying the flight as there was quite a strong wind today. It dropped to the ground a couple of times for several minutes before resuming it's journey up the valley. It eventually flew down Sharnberry towards Hamsterley Forest.

Hi Ian

Love your pictures, and the numbers looks clear from here.

You are lucky he/she obliged by flying along beside you as he did.

Great experience to have. o

Regards
Kathy

 

[craigthirlwell]

I thought i would try my new lens out on the kites

 

[DEREK.C.]

Quick pop round to see the Kites this afternoon, took this picture within 20 seconds of reaching Barlow, is it a young bird, sorry didnt see any tag numbers,but it had Blue and Pink tags.

 

[Ian Hamiltan]

I thought i would try my new lens out on the kites

well done,good photos.

 

[craigthirlwell]

More kite shots from Saturday... and a sparrowhawk.

Sorry about the squirrel shot, i know it's the wrong colour but it's well framed!!

 

[June Atkinson]

News up-date 6th November

Quick pop round to see the Kites this afternoon, took this picture within 20 seconds of reaching Barlow, is it a young bird, sorry didnt see any tag numbers,but it had Blue and Pink tags.

Lovely to see so many folk getting superb views and shots of the kites.
I'm puzzled about the Blue/pink tags .. I'll check on this tomorrow evening when we are at Powburn for a Red Kite Night. We have a Dumfires & Galloway bird with ours, but that is not the correct combination- it's green/purple. It might be the Yorkshire kite!


News up-date, courtesy of Ken Sanderson:

A couple of kites circling low over a field at Lintzford, below Garesfield. . On the ground there was a kite feeding on a dead pheasant, and great news, it was Bobs, WTB0, sibling of Bibs so he is alive and well. WT38 (Bob's mum) was perched nearby. One of the two kites flying was the D&G juvenile green/purple WT10 and the other was one of our pink/orange tagged kite.

At the Barlow Burn. I wanted to "check out" WT51.This kite had been giving out a constant perched signal for the last few weeks from the west end of the Barlow Burn. But he's OK, I flushed him out of a tree below Coalburns and he looked fine as he headed off down the Burn.

The only other kite in the Barlow Burn (that was giving out a signal) was WT80 and he was recorded later as roosting in Gibside.

We then went back to Lintzford Lane and discovered kites were still hanging about there. WT68 was now feeding on the pheasant carcass and there were up to four other kites in the area. After a few minutes the cattle in the field moved WT68 off the carcass and the kites lost interest. It was getting cooler now so we decided to retire to Lintzford Garden Centre for a coffee and then stop off again on our way to Sherburn Towers. We could see five kites from the Garden Centre cafe.

When we returned to Lintford Lane there were six kites there giving superb views and one of them was WTA1, the juvenile that had been seen in Teesdale at the beginning of last week. Another juvenile WT A5 was now feeding on the pheasant carcass. There was also an untagged juvenile kite seen here.

15 kites roosted at Sherburn Towers. They came in quite late and we only managed to get visuals on WT51(confirming he is OK) and D&G WT10.

4 kites roosted at Gibside

In all, 26 kites were recorded during the day and evening.

A very good days kiting.

Cheers,
Ken
So, our kites are flying well..................................

 

[June Atkinson]

Newsflash!
Our WT34, Poppy, is now at Gigrin Farm in mid-Wales. I wonder how long it will be before she comes back?

 

[charlierocky]

Once again June a very good read, thankyou for the update. I must admit living in the midlands surrounded on just about all sides now, I'm getting a little jealous of all these kites. Maybe it's time we had some Red Kites here.
Thanks again June.

 

[June Atkinson]

Once again June a very good read, thankyou for the update. I must admit living in the midlands surrounded on just about all sides now, I'm getting a little jealous of all these kites. Maybe it's time we had some Red Kites here.
Thanks again June.

Well, you must come and see us - at any time of the year. Just let me know and we can arrange for you to go out with a volunteer................our pleasure!

 

[June Atkinson]

Bleu/pink wing tag

Quick pop round to see the Kites this afternoon, took this picture within 20 seconds of reaching Barlow, is it a young bird, sorry didnt see any tag numbers,but it had Blue and Pink tags.

Wing tag Blue and pink
It can't be a Northern kite.
Ours are 2004 - pink/yellow; 2005 - pink/orange; 2006 - pink/green and 2007 is pink/purple.
If the blue tag is on the left wing and the pink on the right, it could be a Scottish Black Isle bird of 2000. But I'll try to check up on this. How well were you able to see the tag colour?

 

[June Atkinson]

14 November up-date

Here is the recent news of our local kites, courtesy of Ken Sanderson:

Summary of yesterday's tracking.
Please note that with the exception of just one kite, recordings are of birds that have transmitters that are working. The exception was a pink/purple tag flying in to the Sherburn Towers pre roost

There were 24 kites recorded through out the day.

There were only two kites recorded in the Barlow Burn just after lunch. They were WT80 and WT81 and both were later recorded in the roost at Sherburn Towers.

The Aberdeen kite(Freq.845) that had recently been reported in the area, was not detected.

We did not actually see a kite until pre roost at Sherburn Towers.

There were 20 kites at the Sherburn Towers roost. This included WT28 & WT36 who have come in from Priestfield.

Visual IDs were made on WT68; WT80; WT36, WT51and the D&G green purple 10. We had a "wow factor" moment when 8 kites came into together from the direction of Gibside.

1 kite, WT79, roosted on the Gibside Estate.

Two kites roosted at Beda Hills, the breeding pair, WT38 & WT56.

Only one kite roosted in the Lintzford area, WT89. Interesting record this because this kite was not recorded at all during the day.

My thoughts:
Because there was a lot of kites that came into together that were not recorded during the day I suspect thay were foraging outside the Derwent Valley, perhaps Sunniside or the Team Valley.

Looking at the monitoring of the last few weeks some of the non breeding orange tags are on the wander. WT34 has been recorded at Gigrin and other non breeders eg WT32, WT33, WT60 are here one week and missing the next. This would account for the slight drop in numbers of roosting birds.
The green tag population has remained relatively stable over the last few weeks.:t:

 

[charlierocky]

Thanks again June.