Red Kites by Bear
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Mon 5 May 2014 22:57
Red Kites by Big Bear
We left
Swindon and took to the country roads to Rhayader, Wales. We arrived at the Red
Kite Feeding Station in time to see the birds circling ready for feed time.
At three
o’clock out chugged the tractor. Then it looked like
a scene from Birds. The last time we were here was
the 26th May 2010, I wrote blogs then,
to be different this time – the first blog features pictures taken by Bear and
Bear alone. I set him up with the D7000 and 80-200 mm lens,
soon he was clicking away. Considering it was so overcast I think he did very
well.
Test swooping, lining up and landing.
Meat clasped tightly in her
paws.
Action shots.
Aerial shots.
Hawk thief.
Grab position.
Later, the youngsters and the
crows.
Watching the birds worked up an appetite for a cup of tea. I had a
slice of the best carrot cake ever, Bear settled for a caramel slice. On the
walls of the tea room there was an interesting pictorial story. Fossil remains of red kite, as old as forty million years,
have been found in southern France. Bone remains from caves on the Gower
Peninsula date back 120,000 years before the arrival of humans in Wales.
Numerous kite bone remains have been found in Iron Age sites and Roman middens
in many parts of Britain.
The
Middle Ages was the zenith of the red kite’s fortunes. The countryside provided
a mosaic of arable land, rough grazings, woodland and wetland. The red kite was
very numerous in both town and country. Together with semi-wild pigs and ravens
it was the only means of keeping the London streets
clean and was protected by royal decree.
The 18th century Enclosure Acts enabled landowners to initiate widescale
game preservation. This further intensified the war against birds of prey and
other predators. The invention of the breech loading
gun in 1810 and the passing of Game Acts in 1840, were the final nails in
the kites’ coffin.
Other enemies were the egg collectors
and taxidermists. Many well known collectors paid
local people to steal eggs, sometimes deceitfully involving watchers paid to
guard the nests. By around 1870 the red kite had been exterminated from England
and Scotland. In three hundred years humans had exterminated a bird which had
flown free over the land for many millions of years. In Wales the story was the same:
county by county the kite was eliminated until the end of the century only a
handful of pairs remained in the remote valleys of central Wales. First moves to
safeguard these few pairs began around 1890. Year after year, nest failures
brought frustration; somehow a few pairs continued to keep the population
going.
The RSPB’s Gwenffrwd and Dinas nature
reserve supported one of the final pairs. In 1922 the RSPB took over the
responsibility for paying bounties to landowners for successful nests. By the
beginning of the 20th century the battle to try to save the last Welsh kites was
underway.
In Wales the kite continues to expand
it’s range slowly, with a population of around 200 pairs at the turn of the
century. The most remarkable story of the protection of a bird species anywhere
in the world becomes, at last, a story of success. A story made all the more
remarkable since DNA testing has proved that the entire Welsh population this
century is descended from one female bird!
Just
as we had finished our tea, cake and reading the information, the meat delivery van came in. Fit for human consumption
and plenty of it.
So
pleased to have been able to return and witness the success story of the Welsh red kite.
Five minutes down the road we were warmly welcomed in the Red Kite. Beds soon settled
and Bear was soon soaking in the bath, very pleased
with his pictures.
ALL IN ALL VERY IMPRESSED WITH
BEAR
CHUFFED BUT LUCKY ME
I DISAGREE – I THOUGHT THE BOY DONE
GOOD
IT WAS A LOT OF
FUN |