Well as the advertising revenue also helps pay for the mags and the amount of pages given over to adverts seems to have dropped off a lot over the last couple of years I expect the publishers are grateful for any income regardless of subject matter.

Look on the bright side at least it was not an article on how to make a bird feeder that would have taken up proper editorial pages

I'm just happy that I got a Red Kite to take food off the lawn yesterday.

Was it the robin , Robin, that got you so incensed?

I beleive they were let free some years ago at Harewood house near Harrogate. We ride out past there regularly on the Motorcycle & there are lots of them flying around.

We have 2 regulars that fly over our Village most days. On Saturday there were 4 of them, the Crows are always trying to attack them. I guess there territory or nest protecting. They are a sight to behold with a 5 foot wingspan.

Steve.

Ahh…Red Kites…beautiful birds…they are my wife's all time favourite…we first saw them in numbers while holidaying in Wales. We were on the railway from Devil's bridge to that well known seaside town that I can never pronounce nor spell…Abersw???? The guide told us that the birds had been added to the area in the past but were now getting too large in numbers which might need addressing. This was perbaps 10 years ago, not sure if anything was done about them, hope not.

We have recently moved home and viewed our fair share of properties around our chosen area. They say that when you find the right home you feel it as you walk in or even as you arrive. That was certainly the case for my wife and I, firstly we saw two classic cars the same model as mine, they are faily rare these days. Then as we parked and walked to the front door my wife spotted a red kite circuling above, a sign to her.. once we walked in we were hooked. Now in our new home Red Kites are a daily event, I love their distinctive call…few weeks back I threw the remains of some bread onto the lawn. While washing up a large shadow flashed across my vision followed by many smaller birds scattering. Not sure if the kite was going for the bread or some of the fledgings in the group…it was a sight to see, having such a large bird so close… The neighbours tell me to throw some raw chicken out when I see the kites above as they will swoop down to get the meal. I guess its something the villagers have been doing for years.

Yep, we got this house move right…as I finished typing this the distinctive call is once again overhead…🙂

Pete

Hi, I suppose if there weren't enough traders wishing to pay for a back page advert that you would like to see, you could've had a blank back page instead, personally it really doesn't bother me, unless adverts start to replace the content that I'm paying for.

As far as JasonB's video of Red Kites are concerned, I could have sent him a video of bats flying around last night, and keeping my security light on. It was however, fascinating to see the speed and the twists and turns they do, but did look a little ghostly as the light shone on the underside of their wings.

Regards Nick.

Come out of Machynlleth last week I saw around ten kites circling a field then around three dropped down below the hedge line within a few seconds they rose up one had caught something next thing there was a scrap taking place with several trying to snatch the prize !

Bwlch Nant yr Arian Visitor Centre is where Peter is referring to they can also be seen in large numbers at Rhayader which is a little further away

H

I don't particularly mind the adverts but the one time I came close to cancelling my subscription was when a previous editor padded out an article with pictures of an empty car boot and then another picture of something in the car boot. That was a very low point for me.

You do know, Howard, that red kites are native to the UK?

Like Dave, I doubt red kites, which prefer to scavenge rather than hunt, are having much impact on our populations of Passeriformes. If they were, then there would be no need for sparrowhawks to have evolved into the speed machines they are, and they would be being actively displaced by red kites as hunters of small birds.

Red kites can, however, have an impact on populations of certain ground nesting birds. "Bird tables" can reduce this impact.

They thrive on rats

Neil

They are not predators of small birds at all. They may take a crow or pigeon, but they aren't very good at that and aren't nimble enough to take small birds or raid their nests.

The main reason for the decline in small birds (which has been huge) is loss of habitat and loss of insects for them to feed on.

Kites mostly scavenge, and they are a native species to the UK, have never been extinct but did drop to about two breeding pairs at one point.