Red Kite in Hampshire (2 Viewers)

[burnsomebridges]

This afternoon while out walking just north of Winchester, after tens of sightings of common buzzard, I got my first positive sighting of a red kite, attached are a couple of photos.

 

[Tri-Counties Birder]

This afternoon while out walking just north of Winchester, after tens of sightings of common buzzard, I got my first positive sighting of a red kite, attached are a couple of photos.

Fantastic aren't they.

That is one of the areas where they have become established. It is thought they have originated from the Chiltern population.

 

[RoyCo]

Fantastic aren't they.

That is one of the areas where they have become established. It is thought they have originated from the Chiltern population.

yes they are fantastic - you can get really excellent views if you venture up to the Uffington White Horse on the Ridgeway as they often use that hillside for lift. Also, the Hawk Conservancy near Andover (an excellent place!!) did have a release programme for Red Kite and we do see them (wild Kite that is) in the rural parts near Salisbury and towards Winchester!

 

[Jon Turner]

Driving west along the A303 this afternoon a Red Kite flew north over the road a few miles west of Andover. May be from the population north east of Andover?

Jon

 

[Wells-man]

I live near Whitchurch. We get red kites flying over the house quite often .. sometimes 2 in sight at once and sometime quite low.

They're becoming almost commonplace, but it still lifts the spirits every time we see one.

k.

 

[Scousemouse]

Would be good to exercise some caution here, this from the Hampshire Ornithological Society yahoo group...

Can I remind everyone to exercise caution before posting sightings of
sensitive species, particularly raptors, on hoslist or going birding in the
coming months. Red Kites and Peregrines are becoming commoner but sightings in any locations away from coastal marshes should be avoided as the observer may accidentally
disclose a nesting location.

Might be good to delete the locations perhaps?

 

[Wells-man]

Would be good to exercise some caution here, this from the Hampshire Ornithological Society yahoo group...

Can I remind everyone to exercise caution before posting sightings of
sensitive species, particularly raptors, on hoslist or going birding in the
coming months. Red Kites and Peregrines are becoming commoner but sightings in any locations away from coastal marshes should be avoided as the observer may accidentally
disclose a nesting location.

Might be good to delete the locations perhaps?

Really?! No offence meant but have you driven along the M40 lately? Red kites outnumber buzzards in places. See the many sites such as

http://www.chilternsaonb.org/caring/red_kites_where.html or http://www.gpss.force9.co.uk/redkites/index.htm , or even elswhere on birdforum..... eg http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=20246

.... which specify quite closely where kites can be seen. If someone really wanted to find a nest they'd find plenty of info there. It took me approx 90 secs via google to find those links.

I can't see that a mention or two of where kites have been seen around north hampshire, where they are now pretty common, can seriously do any harm. To me this seems rather 'precious' of the hampshire yahoo group to be frank. It's not as if anyone has said where a nest is. I see kites over my home or nearby most weeks, often several times in a week, but I've never even seen one not flying, let alone on a nest, and have absolutely no idea where their nests might be. Anyone searching for a nest from my house would have a pretty long and fruitless haul of it in my opinion.

K.

 

[Scousemouse]

yep, and when they are as common in Hampshire as they are along the M40, then I'm sure no one will be so "precious" about their welfare.

I just thought it was only fair to ensure you have the guidelines from the County Ornithology group. You can interpret that info as you see fit, but it is your opinion against 700 odd birders, plus the rare bird services who all choose to follow this guideline.

I'm not interested in any form of long winded debate about this either, even if it is raining outside.

 

[Wells-man]

yep, and when they are as common in Hampshire as they are along the M40, then I'm sure no one will be so "precious" about their welfare.

I just thought it was only fair to ensure you have the guidelines from the County Ornithology group. You can interpret that info as you see fit, but it is your opinion against 700 odd birders, plus the rare bird services who all choose to follow this guideline.

I'm not interested in any form of long winded debate about this either, even if it is raining outside.

Nothing long-winded about it.
Their own web site links to...

http://www.goingbirding.co.uk/hants/birdnews.asp

... which from a simple search, lists red kite sightings from all over Hampshire, not just the coast, with precise positions actually marked on maps. So if that is the official advice perhaps they should take heed of it themselves?

K.

 

[pdwinter]

Nothing long-winded about it.
Their own web site links to...

http://www.goingbirding.co.uk/hants/birdnews.asp

... which from a simple search, lists red kite sightings from all over Hampshire, not just the coast, with precise positions actually marked on maps. So if that is the official advice perhaps they should take heed of it themselves?

K.

Red Kites don't appear (automatically - the Recorder has discretion) in the daily lists from 1/3/2010 but it looks like the programmer forgot to exclude them from the search. Thanks for pointing that out.

Paul

 

[pdwinter]

Forget previous gibberish

I just checked through the sightings on goingbirding and there is nothing that appears on the search that doesn't appear on the daily listings so I wrote b*ll*x!

The county recorder, John Clark, vets the entries and if he regards them to be Ok (e.g. at present, like most springs, there seems to be a young bird doing a tour of Southampton) then he allows them to go public.

This is for the breeding season only - winter sightings are not restricted.

Hope that helps

 

[Scousemouse]

So Ken, all,
Any chance you could remove/de-sensitise the locations in your posts?

 

[Brian Challis]

Red Kite sighting over Winchester

A group of us spotted a single Red Kite flying east across Winchester at Abbotts Barton about 3pm yesterday, Sunday 11th April. This is the first time I have spotted one over the City (albiet the outskirts) I spotted a pair of Red Kites north of Winchester flying over the A30 near Dummer last week. Are they slowly migrating south from their usual habitat north of Newbury?

 

[pdwinter]

A well known and publicised (by Hampshire Ornithological Society) winter gathering can be found at Faccombe/Pilot Hill - 60+ birds, a fantastic sight.

Still a fairly scarce bird south of Winchester.

A group of us spotted a single Red Kite flying east across Winchester at Abbotts Barton about 3pm yesterday, Sunday 11th April. This is the first time I have spotted one over the City (albiet the outskirts) I spotted a pair of Red Kites north of Winchester flying over the A30 near Dummer last week. Are they slowly migrating south from their usual habitat north of Newbury?

 

[IanF]

As a result of the concerns raised Bird Forum has been in touch with the County Recorder who is happy enough with the information already posted in this thread.

It's worth bearing in mind though Scousemouse's concerns regards revealing potential or actual nest locations even if that's not the situation in this case.

Quoted with permission of John Clark, County Recorder -

I don't have any problem with the content of the thread - indeed I was aware of some of it!

The position of Red Kites in Hampshire is that we knew of about 14 nesting pairs last year - all but one in the northern third of the county. They are certainly increasing, and of course we don't know where they all are. As was mentioned in the thread, there are two large winters roosts north of Faccombe village and at Hare Warren which hold mostly young birds and which we have included in our bird report. In spring, these young birds disperse all over the county and may turn up anywhere. However, away from the coast and obvious non breeding locations, we advise caution in identifying exact spots because there may be a breeding pair in the vicinity which is unknown to the observer. Red Kites are particularly susceptible to disturbance at the nest building/egg laying stage of their cycle, so caution should be exercised at this time of year.

All records are blocked on the going birding website, but each day I make public those which I consider non sensitive.

Hopefully, in a few years time they will be much commoner and we won't have to worry.​

​

 

[skatebirder]

A Red Kite flew over Southampton yesterday...it's nice to see one from the garden in this part of Hampshire.

 

[rebeccac]

A red kite has started visiting our farm near Winchester regulalry in the last 3 weeks. It circles an old oak tree and hangs around above my veg garden. Its quite low down and is an extraordinary beaufiful sight.

 

[Kits]

In the past five years they have become quite a common sight in the north of Hampshire and we frequently have them flying above our garden. Rooks mob them quite regularly.

 

[Nigel Davies]

A friend birdwatching near Downham Market this morning saw a Red Kite flying West

Local birders keep those bins handy

Nigel

 

[Clive Watson]

One over the M3 J5 (near Hook) on Saturday morning. Unfortunately I also saw a dead Little Owl yesterday evening on the central reservation about 5 miles north of Winchester Services during my return journey.