Sunday 10 January 2010

Red Kite Diaries

On Monday I took what is becoming an annual trek to Ibstone to photograph the red kites. On this occasion I decided to arrive early in the hope of getting flight shots whilst the sun was still low enough to illuminate under their wings. It was a beautiful frosty morning, but the kites were not playing. Most were sat up in trees and not flying.

Red Kite


As the day progressed more took to the air - but they have a genius for being exactly where I am not. No matter where I positioned myself there always seemed to be more red kites where I had just come from. I'd get in a spot to put the sun behind me - and they'd all move behind as well. Still, over the day I managed a number of shots with progressively numbing hands.

In the afternoon I found a dead squirrel in a hedge row. Possibly dropped after an aerial squabble. Deciding this could be my lucky break I moved it into the centre of a field and retired to the cover of a frosty hedge to await the kites. I must confess I was dissapointed with these supposedly sharp-eyed scavangers. Two circled right overhead at one point, but neither moved in. I can only assume that they'd eaten their fill of chilly squirrel, or failed to spot it entirely. Nevertheless I managed a few more shots before becoming so cold I had to start moving agaun.

It's always a privilige to spend time with this majestic birds and despite the cold I had a most enjoyable day...

Red Kite


You can see more of the day's shots on my flickr stream.

12 comments:

  1. Hi Ian,
    These are great shots man... A pity on the second that the wings are a bit cut, but the sharpness and the light are awesome. Here it is still too dark and raining too much to see birds at the moment!!! I wish the spring will come quickly cause we did not get any winter really!

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  2. Thanks Chris. Yes, I lost a little bit on the bottom of the shot so I chopped a bit from the top to even it up. One of the perils of flight shots! It was a landscape shot that I've cropped to portrait. Wondering in retrospect whether I should start trting to do flight shots as portrait aspect all the time!

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  3. Wow - fabulous shots. I saw one above my garden in the Spring. I was thrilled.

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  4. Wow Ian, I stay in the cold all day to get great shots like this. These are amazing, and you are right what a majestic bird. Great narration, enjoyed reading your post. Happy New Year, Anna :)

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  5. What a shot, Ian... Great feeling those eyes... Really in the spot!

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  6. Great images, I can't even see the strings.

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  7. I really do love that top photo. The colour contrasts are perfect and I like the angle of the wing beat.

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  8. Bleeding sharp and nice lighting.
    Perfect in flight shot if not for clip wings.

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  9. Hey you may have had a down day, but I would say good fortune for these photographs are great and so sharp and crisp... good job as always~

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  10. Interesting blog. It would be great if you can provide more details about it. Thanks you.

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