Red Kites

I was hoping to have some photo`s to share from the weekend but unfortuantly saw very little.......and as I won't be out for a few weeks thought I would reveisit my kite shots at Gigrin and see what else I could post. Gigrin is a great place its a farm in Wales that has several purpose built hides so that when they feed the kites you have prime viewing....on a typical day you get about a 100 kites some times many more.

Anywho...

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Impressive flight work Mark. Beautiful birds.

Sounds like a fantastic location.

Thanks Steve, Gigrin is a great location i`d recomend it to any in the Uk and visiting pretty much guaranteed to get the birds there and close enough to surfice with 300mm, the rest is up to the photographer

All excellent shots...great looking birds that I've never seen!

Thanks Steve, yeah the Kites are great looking especially with that forked tail....dead easy to ID as there`s nothing with a similar profile over here, that and their colouring is great.....redish brown with a white head.

Great series.

Teriffic BIF series, great eyes.

Thanks Pat and Roger, it was great to photograph them, really majestic when they are up in the air.

Beautiful shots Mark, very sharp and detailed. What gear were you using?

Great chots and the whole concept of that farm is something we need over here.

Great shots of an impressive looking bird. I would love to get a chance to see these guys. Very nice series.

Very impressive series! Is this red kite considered a predatory bird?

Hi Dave I was using a 1dsmk2 and 500mm on a gitzo 3540XLS with a wimberley mk2.....when it comes to easily tracking the wimberley is fantastic, thanks very much for the comments

Great chots and the whole concept of that farm is something we need over here.

Mitch it really does make a difference to be able to get that close to these birds as I said before they are incredibly majestic just gliding on the wing. Conservation wise well it guarentees a meal for any Kite that comes.

Thanks Condor they are indeed impressive especially in such numbers that can make it tricky for photography but thats a small price to pay to see these birds making such a good recovery (wales was their last strong hold now through reintroduction they are spreading well through the rest of the UK).

They are predatory but primarily scavengers mostly feeding off dead sheep but will take live birds and small mammals. Thanks for the reply

Loved your shots of the Kites Mark. I attempted the same the other day as one was showing off cruising over our property. We are in Hampshire, UK.

I used a Mark III 70-200 with a 1.4 ex. I have also sharpened them. I was very disappointed with my results and as I have a day to practice at the Hawk Conservancy here soon I want to have the right gear to get some much better shots.

Obviously my lens is not so big as yours and I did not have a tripod to hand but can you tell me what a wimberley is please?

These were the best two of my shots and I have reduced to 72 resolution.

Pauline

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Outstanding in-flight shots. Great work indeed.