Blog
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Black Isle return for Phoenix and Lewis
Just when we thought they were settled, in the last week, two of the tagged birds have returned to their Black Isle beginnings. Phoenix (F) and Lewis (H) are two male birds who have been frequenting the Moy area of late. Since the 23rd of August however, Lewis has made a return to his home ground crossing North over the Moray Firth from Culloden moor and has last been recorded on the 29th August in the Munlochy bay area. If we take a look back at Lewis's wanderings a year ago today we find that he was in this very part of the Black Isle! We wonder if he has been reminiscing about his particularly hairy crash landing into a pheasant pen around these parts way back at the start of August 2009??! Or perhaps he's spending time socialising with this year's young around this area and using his own experiences to teach them a thing or two about spreading their wings and staying aloft in the process!
Meanwhile, its as if Phoenix felt a little left out with the sudden disappearance of Lewis (both birds having spent a considerable amount of time ranging very closely together around Moy) and himself departed for a quick return to the Black Isle to see what all the fuss was about on the 28th and 29th August before, satisfied, flying back to Moy. Now, have a go at hitting the 'All locations' button for each of these birds. Zoom out and after a quick comparison of the travel histories of each you should find them to be spookily similar! Both birds have spent a considerable time lately shuttling back and forth between the Black Isle and Moy areas and both made publicised trips to the north and west coasts of Ireland allbeit at slightly different times of the year. Looking back in time can be just as interesting as anticipating the next moves of these birds!
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Live sighting of Red Arrow!
Some news from the Findhorn valley now and it looks like Red Arrow has been spotted out and about on his jaunts by a regular visitor of this site. We received word from this follower that he had spotted a red kite on Saturday 21st at around 4pm between Corrievorrie and the Findhorn itself flying towards Auchintoul. This bird was wing tagged like Red Arrow and when we looked back at his movements that afternoon using the satellite data the position that flagged up at 1600 hrs did indeed tally to the location of the live sighting. We guessed it was only a matter of time until this bird began to be spotted. Red Arrow has made this part of the valley his temporary home now since about mid June this year - it will be interesting to see if he remains here for the winter seeing that he's obviously quite settled. Keep watching for him! If you manage to get a glimpse of his wing tags in good light they are left blue/right pink with a lower case 'n' on both.
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
From Crieff to Blairgowrie - Spey on a wander?
For a good few months now it appeared that Spey (Grantown Primary School) had settled into quite the routine down near Crieff whereby he would typically roost within a few favoured patches of woodland near to this town and spend the daylight hours tootling back and forth between here and uplands close to the Loch Turret Reservoir. We spotted him breaking this pattern on the 22nd August by shifting position slightly North East up to the Blairgowrie area. Campers at the Corriefodly Holiday Park would have been happy to see the distinctive shape of Spey in the sky at around 4pm last Sunday afternoon floating around these parts. By 6pm it looked like Spey had found a comfy patch of coniferous woodland to the West of Bridge of Cally, lying around 5 miles to the North of Blairgowrie. Could this be Spey on the wander again?
Monday, 23 August 2010
Red kites in Strathdearn
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Harvesting kites!
This is a great time of year to catch sight of a kite or two closely following the activities of harvesting farmers in the local countryside. The cutting of hayfields can make certain food items e.g. invertebrates and small mammals more apparent and accessible for scavenging birds such as the red kite. Potential prey are either killed or displaced and it is common to see red kites swooping at regular intervals in the wake of farm machinery during this time - ever the opportunists! Just the other week, one of the volunteers who helps us out at the feeding station spotted the sudden appearance of 5 red kites over a field further down from the site itself. Upon closer inspection he noted the reason for their interest - a single farmer out a-mowing!
None of these kites were likely to be any of our tagged juveniles from last year however, who all remain outwith the Black Isle for now. Of these, no major travels to report - all of our kites are sticking to the pattern of the past couple of months and remaining pretty faithful to what we imagine are for now, temporary locations. Red Arrow (Beauly) is within the Findhorn valley centring his travels to uplands around here from Corrievorrie... Phoenix (Daviot) is ranging around the Moy area as is Lewis although this bird has of late been making wider travels south of here down the A9 to Tomatin... Spey (Grantown) remains near Crieff in Perthshire. Lastly, we are still awaiting contact with Swooper Trooper (Culbokie) - its now been over a month since we had any information through from her tag although there have been indications that connections between space and earth have been attempted. As before, we'll let you know if and when we get some data through for this bird. In the meantime, keep a close eye out for forky tailed scavengers scanning over stubbly fields across the Black Isle...
Thursday, 12 August 2010
New look map page!
Some of you may have noticed a change about our map page of late.. we hope this will make it easier for you to follow the progress of our tagged red kites which, it has to be admitted, has until now looked more like a big pile of spaghetti has been thrown randomly onto the computer screen!
By clicking in the first instance on our Map section, you will be guided to the front page of this element which shows each of our birds current positions in relation to one another. From here, click on the downward tab of the top left hand box on the map labelled 'All red kites' to select one of the birds for a closer inspection.. the individual maps that follow allow you to explore a particular birds travels at two levels - its last 10 positions and all of its movements since fledging in August 2009! This allows a reminder of some of the longer distance dispersals we've tracked over the past year, including a couple of epic adventures over the sea to Ireland. Hovering over each of the points in the lines gives you a date and time associated with that location and you can change the map background to show towns and terrains by selecting tabs on the top right of the map labelled map/satellite/hybrid/terrain.
Finally for a sneaky peak at photos of each of our red kites at the tender age of 5 weeks, click directly on their silhouette on the map itself. The pop up box that opens will also give you a glimpse of their unique wing tag combinations aswell as detailing some history on the bird and information on the primary school that has been involved in adopting them. Happy tracking!
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Into August..
As we leave behind July here is an update on the movements of our tagged kites..
Overall, all of our remaining 1 year olds are still ranging about in very localised patches away from the Black Isle. Two of the kites, Phoenix (Daviot) and Lewis (Farr) are continuing to centre their travels around the Moy area, 15 miles S of Inverness and off the A9; Red Arrow (Beauly) is also still touring about Corrievorrie in the Findhorn valley about 8 miles S of these two and finally, Spey (Grantown) is still the furthest away, living it up in Perthshire, particularly close to Crieff and the Loch Turret Reservoir.
So, apparently all content and not feeling the urge to disperse further afield for the time being! We are watching out for news of Swooper Trooper (Culbokie) who we havent heard from since the beginning of July, shortly after we received some low voltage data through from her tag. Fingers crossed this is nothing more than a technical glitch and we'll let you know as soon as we hear more from this bird.
In other news, anyone out there heading to the annual Black Isle Show today and tomorrow please do drop by the RSPB stand (usually wedged amongst the machinery displays!) for a chat - we'll also have some craft activities to keep the kids happy and if the weather reports are to be believed, a grand old watertight marquee to keep the downpours out!
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Where Have All The Kites Gone?
If you have been following the red kites on our map, you'll notice that there's not a great amount of movement from them just now. This may be because of the time of year. If you're bird watching and see kites with large clumps of missing feathers on their wings, don't worry! The adults that we track here on the project are currently moulting and they're spending a lot of time lying low while they regrow their feathers.
Very local movements also help them to conserve energy, as having missing feathers and regrowing them does burn up a lot of calories. Once their wings are back to standard, then no doubt we'll see the larger distances travelled again, just like before. A number of youngsters are also fledging at the moment, so the next generation of kites will be active in the Highlands very soon. Red kites are very sociable with each other, so we're looking forward to see how the adults take the youths under their wings.
It seems that, slowly but surely, some kites are making Tollie Feeding Station part of their regular circuit. They certainly fly over Tollie quite regularly and are even occasionally taking food from the table. We regularly have a good number of visitors each day who, even if they don't see any Kites, will have an informative discussion about them with our friendly and knowledgable army of volunteers, Neil, Magda, Steve, Sue, John, Brian, Bine, Seamus, Kate, Shivonne, Mike, Dennis, Margaret, Andy and Liz. We're really grateful to these individuals, who freely and willingly give up their time to share information with the everyday public. Thanks, guys! Visitors to Tollie may also occasionally meet our Red Kite Community Officer Claire Buchanan, who is also giving a number of lectures on Kites locally. If you're interested in Kites and you get the opportunity to visit one of Claire's lectures, then don't miss it!
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Ditto!
No change really from our last blog posting - Spey (Grantown) is still flying around Strathearn and picking up some rather favourite roosting spots in patches of woodland to the North of Crieff; Red Arrow (Beauly) still preferring to spend his time in and around Corrievorrie in the Findhorn valley although making wider jaunts about the surrounding uplands; both Phoenix (Daviot) and Lewis (Farr) likewise roving happily about the uplands around the Moy area, on occasion roosting in the same woodland as one another. Whilst none of these birds are currently aiming for the most well travelled kite award, what is interesting is the routine by which these birds seem to quite happily stick to whether that involves roosting in the same spot night after night or methodically criss crossing an area of ground day in and day out - it is interesting to see these young birds apparently building up an awareness of their surroundings in this way.
We have still to make contact with Swooper Trooper and as the rain continues to fall down, don't hold out much hope for the next wee while! We really need a few good weather days of clear and bright skies so that we can catch up with this female.
Friday, 16 July 2010
What have Lewis and Spey been up to?
Well, Lewis is another of our kites with a particularly penchant for the uplands East and South East of Daviot - he is the third tagged kite that has been spending a lot of time in this area of late with Swooper Trooper and Phoenix also frequenting the uplands around here.. no doubt these social birds are crossing paths with one another along the way!
As for Spey, well he's breaking the mould and is currently spending his third month down in Perthshire (with trips to Yorkshire in between), more lately touring uplands to the north of Crieff which includes forays around the Loch Turret Reservoir. Each of our five remaining tagged birds currently appear to be pretty content ranging about within a specific area - whilst these areas are all outwith the Black Isle, all birds aren't dispersing away from their chosen playgrounds yet but we'll keep monitoring and let you know if and when they start moving on!
Friday, 16 July 2010
Red Arrow, Phoenix and Swooper Trooper updates
It is now just over a year since our juvenile red kites were fitted with their rucksacks, these holding in place a 22 gram solar powered satellite tag to their backs. Since then we've been able to follow the progress of these rare birds from their very first moments of fledging right up until their 1st birthdays. This hasnt been without drama and tragedy at times but also with some rather exciting glimpses into the wanderings of these highly exploratory youngsters! Some of our birds have made it to parts of Ireland and England aswell as touring the four corners of their home country. As we embark on their second years of independence, we can expect even more adventures since red kites don't usually settle down at a nest of their own until 2 or 3 years of age. They will shortly be joined by this year's young who are nearing fledging age and will have their own stories to tell a year from now!
For the moment a quick update on some of our current tagged birds.. Red Arrow (Beauly PS) is still making a temporary home within the Findhorn valley around Corrievorrie, content to roam about the surrounding upland areas during the day. Golden eagles may also be spotted in this area although are likely to be tucked away even further up the valley - these two birds of prey are not usual neighbours but from accounts, its pretty likely that our Red Arrow would be the first to turn on heel if they ever came head to head!
Phoenix is also sticking to his regular commuting trip from the Black Isle, down to uplands to the East and South East of Daviot - the poor weather recently certainly hasnt been damping this daily routine! Another bird that we have tracked to this area is Swooper Trooper whose last GPS position came through on the 3rd July on uplands to the East of Daviot also. Since then we haven't received anymore GPS from Swooper's tag although the previous data did reveal that the tag's battery voltage was quite low - not really surprising taking into account the gloomy weather of late! Some secondary data that has dribbled through since then seems to suggest this bird is still in the general area however we will have to wait for the tag to regain a bit more power before we can be more accurate on Swooper Trooper's latest position.
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Rodenticide warning
Further setbacks to our local population of red kites now with the devastating news that 8 young from this year, representing three different nest sites in and around the Black Isle have died following secondary poisoning by rodenticides (rat poison). All chicks involved displayed classic symptoms of poisoning by anticoagulant rat poisons including bleeding from the beak and feather bases. These toxic compounds work by causing severe internal bleeding through the inhibition of blood clotting factors - this is of particular danger to chicks and other young animals whose blood circulations are already working overtime, constantly supplying fast growing parts of their bodies with nutrients.
What was most likely to have happened here is that adult birds had scavenged dead rats from surrounding farmland which had themselves been killed through rodenticide use before feeding them to their growing chicks. This is devastating news as these 8 birds represent 10% of the total number of young produced on the Black Isle this year. The red kite's predominantly scavenging lifestyle does unfortunately lend these birds to being particularly vulnerable to the use of poisons in our countryside. Anyone using rodenticides in both urban and rural areas are required to be extremely vigilant when doing so to ensure poisons do not enter the food chain beyond the target animal, affecting already rare and vulnerable wildlife but also potentially having disastrous effects on pets aswell as humans in surrounding areas.
As with everything, prevention is better than cure and it is far better to stop rats getting into properties in the first place without the need to use lethal poisons. Precautions include cleaning up split foodstuffs in and around buildings and proofing buildings to prevent rodent access. If a rat infestation occurs then a programme of trapping should be carried out as a first option however the use of more toxic rodenticide poisons may well end up being necessary as a last resort. If you or anyone you know would like to find out more information about the efficient and responsible use of poisons then please contact us via the project website eyestotheskies@rspb.org.uk and we can forward on a free leaflet entitled 'Rat poison and the threat to wildlife'. If you frequently spot red kites foraging around your property in the summer months then this information may be particularly relevant to you.
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Farewell to Tweety Pie
Before p7 pupils at Aviemore Primary School departed for the school holidays, Amber and Lauren wrote a piece in tribute to their adopted kite Tweety Pie who sadly died following a collision with a wind turbine:
?A Sad Farewell To Tweety Pie?
On the 19th of August 2009 P7 pupils of Aviemore Primary adopted one of the best red kites in Scotland. She had been spotted in the highlands we have also been able to check up on her on the eyes to the sky’s website. We have a special wall about RSPB red kite project in our classroom. Some of the people in our class entered RSPB red kite competition where you had to draw a picture of a red kite. The other’s went up on our wall. It is now been nearly a year since we adopted her but sadly our Tweety Pie has died and we are very sad. So farewell Tweety Pie, from all in p7 at Aviemore Primary.
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Commuting kite!
For well over a month now, one of our tagged birds, Phoenix (identified by the letter F on our map) has been undertaking a regular commute between the Black Isle and the area south of Inverness including Daviot (home of his adoptive school!) and uplands to the east and south east of here. You'll see that his kite trail on the map, the representation of his travels, has been ping ponging between these two distinct areas for a number of weeks now. This particular 'corridor' from the southern edge of the Black Isle crossing the Moray Firth by Inverness and up and over the Culloden moor has been noticed before to be somewhat of a 'kite highway', a route which gives young birds a chance to explore and roam the southern outskirts of the city and beyond. Phoenix usually prefers to start his daily routine fresh and early in the morning from the Black Isle itself having roosted the night before at a favourite spot. On occasion he seems to pitch up of an evening in woodland south of Inverness itself - seemingly knacked after a busy day of wandering around these parts! He's definately building up a good memory bank of the area and this will certainly serve the kite well once winter comes around again, a time when these birds often have to forage far and wide to find food and keep in tip top shape.Saturday, 3 July 2010
Rare trip out of the valley for Red Arrow
Having spent pretty much all of June (well since the 8th anyway!) fairly static and for the majority of the time holed up within a standing and felled area of woodland to the west of Corrievorrie in the Findhorn valley, we were pleased to catch a more active Red Arrow making a fleeting journey up to the back of Dingwall over the 26th and 27th June. He didnt hang around the market town for long however, since more recent data shows he pinged right back down to the magnetic pull of the valley by midday on the 28th and has remained there ever since (up to the afternoon of the 2nd July). As described in previous postings, this bird isnt exactly touring the length of the Findhorn and seems to be enjoying a particular spot along its course between Dalmigavie lodge and Corrievorrie. It is most likely this area provides a rather tasty and abundant supply of chow for our young kite, most likely in the form of rabbits hence the reluctance to give up on this space for the time being!Thursday, 24 June 2010
Tweety Pie - an update
We are now able to provide more detail into the death of one of our tagged birds, Tweety Pie, a female red kite who had been adopted by Primary 7 pupils at Aviemore Primary School. Sadly, this bird was found dead at the Fairburn windfarm near Dingwall on the Black Isle and taken immediately to the Scottish Agricultural College to establish cause of death. Vets here looked carefully at the body and noted that the bird suffered bruising and fractures that were consistent to it having died following an impact. This information together with the location in which Tweety Pie was found suggests that she was most likely to have been killed following collision with one of the wind turbines. It is really unfortunate to lose an otherwise healthy and active bird in this way and the pupils were greatly saddened to hear the news, having spent almost a year tracking her moves. Since fledging around the 26th July 2009, Tweety Pie has never ventured far from the western fringes of the Black Isle (at least as far as the satellite tag has showed us!) spending a lot of her time touring the towns of Dingwall, Strathpeffer, Contin, CononBridge, Beauly and Fairburn and all the vacts tracts of countryside in between! This goes to show that whilst some of our juvenile birds are itching to explore lands further away from their natal territories, others are perfectly happy getting to know their homelands intimately. This tragic accident has certainly been upsetting for everyone involved in the project including Aviemore Primary School and of course you avid red kite watchers out there, however this project is ongoing and we promise to keep watch over our remaining tagged red kites as they continue their journeys to becoming adult birds.
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Meanwhile, Spey heads to borders
After spending much of June so far touring about Perthshire, we recently detected Spey shifting location to the Scottish borders and to countryside close to Hawick (here at 4pm on the 18th). Whether or not he pitched up here for the night or crossed over into Northumberland remains to be seen but with more data due in this lunchtime we should be able to check up on this. Spey has already had a tour of England during the month of May when he travelled as far south as Yorkshire and he is currently the farthest away from the Black Isle of all the tagged juveniles. Come back to see his latest adventures over the next week..Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Red Arrow finds the Findhorn.. and stays there!
Yes, since around the 8th June we've been tracking Red Arrow to a small patch within the beautiful Findhorn valley and he rather seems to like it around there! He's been roosting predominantly in coniferous wood to the west of Corrievorrie making foraging trips every now and again to the surrounding uplands. It would be fantastic to get any sightings of a red kite down these parts - Red Arrow has a blue left and a pink right wing tag with lower case letter 'n' on both for any spotters out there. By the sounds of it, the plentiful population of rabbits around here is keeping him sustained for the time being with our last position from him coming through at 6pm on the 20th. Map to update his most recent moves this evening..Thursday, 17 June 2010
To bring you up to speed..
The last couple of months have been eventful to say the least for our young kites and sad to say that not all of this particular catch up is full of uplifting news about adventuring kites. Rather, there are currently rigorous enquiries ongoing relating to three of our tagged birds, one of which we know to be dead following a tragic accident and the other two missing, however we have strong reason to believe that these two birds have perished in unusual circumstances. We can confirm that those three birds include Tweety Pie adopted by Aviemore Primary School, Sky adopted by Avoch Primary School and Ruby adopted by Carrbridge Primary School. Any death of a protected and rare species such as the red kite is a very upsetting and significant occurrence and the associated investigations into cause of fatality must be treated with the gravity they deserve. All three schools have been informed of this sad news and are awaiting the outcome of comprehensive investigations involving the police and other organisations to find out what exactly happened to their adoptive birds. It has certainly been a sombre time for us all involved in the project and these instances serve to highlight the vulnerability of our local red kite juveniles as they negotiate their way into adulthood.
Of the remaining kites, we currently have one bird down in Perthshire (Spey, Grantown PS, last position here on the morning of 15th June) and one kite touring the Findhorn valley (Red Arrow, Beauly PS, last position here midday 14th June), with kites Swooper Trooper (Culbokie PS), Lewis (Farr PS) and Phoenix (Daviot PS) remaining closer to home, all flitting between the Black Isle and positions to the east and south of Daviot further down the A9 (all to 15th June). The map will be updated in accordance tomorrow.