Blog
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Sunday data and admission of map error!
We received a bumper package from 7 tags on Sunday. As follows...
Sky (Avoch) still happily roaming open ground and scrub areas between Munlochy Bay and Drumsmittal areas - occasionally resting up in stands of coniferous woodland... Ruby (Carrbridge) ranging a bit more widely starting off further east by Contin on the 18th then across to Drumsmittal, in woodlands to the west of Muir of Ord on the 21st up to Jamestown on the 22nd then back down to the north east of Beauly on the 23rd and 24th, across to Munlochy Bay again before arriving back at Marybank on the 27th (phew!)... despite Swooper Trooper (Culbokie) showing on the map over the North Sea and halfway to Scandinavia (!) this is infact an input error which should be rectified by this evening (I forgot to hit the minus on the longitude!). Otherwise this female has been spending most of her time between Contin and Maryburgh between the 18th and 26th with a short trip west to low ground past Loch Achilty on the 22nd.... Lewis (Farr) still ranging in close proximity to Ruby between Munlochy bay and Drumsmittal... we also have information on kite A (not shown on map and currently not adopted by a local school) who between the 18th and 27th Februrary has been spending most of her time to the east of Loch Ness by Loch Ruthven, Torness, Inverfarigaig and uplands to the west of Dunmaglass. We made contact with two other birds on this day, Red Arrow (Beauly) and Phoenix (Daviot) but unfortunately no more updates on positions. Some more information to follow..
Thursday, 25 February 2010
This week's latest
Just a quick update now on the movements of most of our tagged kites since Saturday. Tweety Pie (Aviemore) has largely centred her travels close to Fairburn in Ross-shire with small excursions nearby in the Contin and Jamestown areas... similarly we received a couple of positions on Red Arrow (Beauly) who appeared to be in much the same area zipping between Contin and Muirton mains and we actually have a live sighting of this male dated Sunday 21st February close to Fairburn with his mother and father thought to be in close proximity!... Ruby (Carrbridge) has been making wider movements of late starting nearby to the previous two close to Contin between the 16-18th February, moving East to the Drumsmittal and North Kessock areas then landing back West of Muir of Ord on the 22nd Feb.. Swooper Trooper (Culbokie) revisited the Strathrusdale area on the 15th before winding back close to Contin between the 16-19th Feb then exploring the Brahan Estate, Culbokie before landing back near Contin on the 22nd.. rounding up, Phoenix (Daviot), Lewis (Farr) and Spey (Grantown) spent between the 15-22nd in much the same area, right on the Black Isle skirting between Drumsmittal and Munlochy bay.
We are still awaiting news of Red Rocket (Merkinch) and Heather (Dingwall - but not on map!).
Of the kites we know about it appears there are two quite distinct camps forming, one centred around the Fairburn/Contin area and the other between Drumsmittal and Munlochy Bay. Juveniles often seek each other out particularly during the winter months and the formation of such bonds can be crucial in all sorts of ways - finding food together, indulging in play to strengthen life important skills and of course perfecting courtship for the future. Whilst many adult pairs are beginning to move away from communal winter roosts and onto traditional nest sites, this sort of mature behaviour couldnt be further from the minds of these youngsters who will remain fairly 'talon-loose and fancy free' for the time being!
Saturday, 20 February 2010
10/12 kites accounted for - 2 tags remain elusive!
After that quick round up of news we can let you know that the majority of tagged kites have popped back up on our radar in the past few weeks after the dark winter months, all seeming to be pretty close to the Black Isle, so no significant dispersal movements to detail as yet... we are seeing a fair few of these youngsters patrolling about in very similar airspace and its quite possible these individuals are perhaps roosting together at one site, in doing so learning precious life skills together through the act of play.
We still have two kites out there both of which we havent had any data through from since the 22nd November 2009. First of all we have Heather, the female kite Dingwall Primary School are now championing after their first, Hector suffered an unfortunate demise after being struck by a vehicle back in September. We tracked her last moving about in the Muir of Ord area. (Please note, Heather movements are not currently on the website map). Then we have Red Rocket, the female kite that pupils of Merkinch Primary in Inverness adopted. Her last known position was back on this date to the east of Ardross in Easter Ross after exploring the Caithness coast at Berriedale. Its very possible that the tags on these birds will make contact in the same way that the others have done in recent days/weeks so for the time being we arent too worried about this although, the sooner we start getting data in the sooner we'll know that both are safe and sound and trackable once again! We'll let you know as soon as we find out.
Saturday, 20 February 2010
And there's more!
Yes, pleased to announce first contact of 2010 with Lewis (Farr Primary), a male kite we last tracked way back on the 10th November. On the 14th of this month we received a run of data from his tag which placed him between the 10th and 13th roaming between Kilmuir, Munlochy bay and Drumsmittal. Great to see he appears fit and healthy and quite happily sticking close to home like all the other kites!
One final update from Phoenix (Daviot Primary), a male we have heard a little from this year already and who appears to be crossing paths with Lewis, ranging between the 29th January to most recently the 13th February around Munlochy Bay and Drumsmittal.
Saturday, 20 February 2010
Spey making contact..
News of yet another bird and the sat tag on Spey's back has started to warm up again since we last heard from him back on the 14th November. On the 17th February we received a run of data from this tag, mostly unusable since instead of positions it kept giving us messages that the tag was running low on voltage. We did get through one position placing Spey in the 'general' area of Bogallan so we are pretty confident that this bird is also staying fairly close to home for the time being. Again, these tags all seem to need a big boost of sunlight over the next week to reach their optimum transmitting potential but we have seen from others that once they receive this they generally appear to be getting back on track as it were!Saturday, 20 February 2010
News from Tweety Pie!
Back on the 12th February we were very relieved to make contact for the first time this year with red kite Tweety Pie (Aviemore Primary), especially since her last known position was way back on the 19th October! This batch of data wasnt fantastic in that it contained a lot of low voltage battery in place of the usual GPS positions but we were able to tentatively place Tweety Pie on the 2nd February on Brahan Estate land very close to the Black Isle. Seems like Tweety Pie's tag still needs a bit of re-booting since another, far less accurate, position also came through for the next day placing this bird thousands of miles away from here over on the Alaskan/Canadian border!! Safe to say this was pretty unlikely though, especially as this position was accompanied by very low battery voltage on the tag and I guess in these early days of re-contact we might have to be a bit wary of such exaggerated positions as the tags get back to normal! But the fantastic weather today will do wonders and we remain hopeful that we will get a bit more detail through for next week.Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Red Arrow back on the radar
A welcome update now from Red Arrow (Beauly Primary). It's been a long time since we last tracked him way back on the 18th October! But vital signs are good as on the 15th February we received a little package from Red Arrow's tag from which we could place him on the 10th and 12th close to Contin then just to the north east of Marybank on the 13th. Still no exciting travels to report but the main thing is that we are once again able to follow where these youngsters are spending these winter months!Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Swooper keeps on Trooping
Sticking to the western edges of the Black Isle, Swooper Trooper has been exploring the lands around Fairburn and Urray, spending between the 9th and 11th of February to the west of Muir of Ord then back up around Muirton mains between the 12th and 14th February. Swooper Trooper has a history of frequenting this area which isnt too far away from where our feeding station is currently being developed up at Tollie nearby Lochussie.
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Roaming Ruby
She's still pretty close to home but Ruby (Carrbridge Primary) has been covering quite a lot of ground of late spending between the 2nd and 6th February visiting Beauly, Kilmuir, Fairburn and Strathpeffer areas. Between the 11th and 14th February she was tracked exploring the uplands that lie to the West of Muir of Ord. Great to see her so active and to be able to chart her progress from one day to the next rather than relying on occasional weekly fixes!Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Sky in flight
The good news is that we are beginning to get more input from the satellite tags and now that we've likewise been able to track the kites themselves, we thought we'd bring you some individual updates once again. First off news about Avoch Primary School's adoptive kite Sky, identified on the map as 'B'. We last tracked Sky back on the 15th Jan roaming between Munlochy and Drumsmittal and since then, we havent seen much of a change to this pattern. Between the 4th-13th February we have seen her exploring these areas still. Sky has a history of sticking fairly local to this patch since fledging, as far as we've seen at least, with only a brief jaunt down the A9 to Daviot towards the end of September last year. While we can't say where she's been in the interim period when her tag was down, its good to be finally getting some decent positional information on her so we can be hopeful that if and when she does disperse further, we shouldnt be too far behind!
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Tags beginning to wake up
Pleased to say that a lot of the sat tags appear to be awakening from their winter slumbers and whilst we are still not getting accurate positional data from the vast majority, this new contact continues to be most welcome. Rounding up, in the last few days/weeks we have heard from a grand total of 9 sat tags, leaving 3 tags that we havent had anything from since before Christmas. These remaining tags are fitted to the backs of red kites Heather, Red Rocket and Tweety Pie. Whilst this is still worrying we can remain hopeful that we may very well tune into these tags in the coming days and weeks as has already been seen with others.
Leading onto what we do know about and we do have definate and accurate GPS positions for 2 kites in particular this week. Red kite Swooper Trooper has once again flashed up on the radar this week and we were able to trace her movements between the 19 and 23rd Jan roaming between the Fairburn area in Easter Ross and Munlochy area on the black isle. A welcome bit of news from Phoenix also came through placing him between the 20th and 24th ranging around the southern area of the black isle. This has been the first usable bit of data from him since the tail end of November last year and its great to see him obviously getting out and about. These positions have been updated on the map this afternoon so should appear online by tonight. More news as and when it comes..
Monday, 18 January 2010
Bumper package!
Well at least in light of recent months.. today we received data through on 6 of the tags specifically those tags on the backs of red kites Sky, Ruby, Swooper Trooper, Red Arrow, Phoenix and one kite who has yet to be assigned to a school. From this bunch we got positional data from Sky and Swooper Trooper only. Between the 13th and 16th January, Sky was hanging around Munlochy and Kilmuir areas with Swooper Trooper operating in much the same airspace between the 15th and 17th January. Again, although we're not able to place the rest of the kites very well at the moment it is great to see that the satellite tags seem to be picking up from their hibernation a bit more of late!
Thursday, 14 January 2010
A good omen
Today we took a trip up to the stone building which will very soon exist as Tollie Red Kites and were welcomed by the sight of one of these beautiful birds, perched right on the guttering! Close by, another was floating above some trees with that perfect fluidity they are renowned for. This was fantastic to see and greatly encouraging that we will have plenty more red kites come to visit once the word spreads! We took the pick up truck along the track which was just aswell as the route was pretty hairy still with layers of snow and ice but well worth the ride to spot the pair of kites and also begin to move some furnishings into the building space. We're going to be busy decking out the site over the next month to make it as welcoming as possible for you all and will keep you updated with the latest progress. At the moment the walls of the building are bare but the floor is now taken up by chairs, benches and tables not to mention feeders for the smaller beaks that'll be drawn to the table! And yes, we received another dribble of data through today from one of the tagged birds, this one not assigned to a school yet. Again no positional data to go on but contact none the less and at a much regular frequency than before!Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Surprise from Spey!
Just when we thought we had settled into a routine of Sunday and Monday data updates we received a surprise dribble of data through from the tag on Spey's back today! Despite not being enough to help us work out where he's hanging around of late this was a very welcome bit of contact with this bird since we havent had anything through from him since the 16th November. Back then he had been sticking to familiar territory on the black isle so it will be interesting to see if there is another top up from the tag in the days to come with this new information in it. Perhaps yesterdays bright light was enough of a boost to transmit the news we did receive from this kite today so fingers crossed the cloud cover will part again over the end of the week..Tuesday, 12 January 2010
a spot of news..
For the first time in a good while we received some nice GPS positions for one of the kites this Sunday past. Red kite Swooper Trooper's tag delivered a few points on her whereabouts between the 6th and 9th of January providing us with a rough picture of her movements during this time. Still on the black isle, she was shown to have wandered between Munlochy bay and the tip of Cromarty, last recorded between here and Rosemarkie seemingly patrolling the lands edge as it rolls steeply down to the firth here. Her positions on the map should update this evening some time so you can get a better idea of this location. This news follows a week where we've had a couple of particularly bright and sunny days so as long as this pattern repeats itself over the next wee while we should be fairly optimistic of learning a bit more on movements shortly..
Otherwise, although we have been making contact with some of the other tagged kites (Sky and Red Arrow), this hasnt been to the extent where we have been receiving actual GPS data yet so we cant provide any detail on their whereabouts. However, all the signs are still indicating that batteries are low on voltage so presumably we need to just bide our time whilst they power up gradually.
Thought it was about time to give you an update on the development of Tollie Red Kites the feeding station. Although some work is currently being hampered by the big dumps of snow we've had over the past few weeks we hope that this facility will be open in time for March 1st. We're very excited to be bringing this opportunity to the local area and it will definately showcase these spectacular birds and their acrobatic displays! So stay tuned for further updates as things are beginning to roll with this.. we hope that many of you following the tagged kites already will come and visit and perhaps see them right up close and personal!
Friday, 8 January 2010
January latest..
No news at all from the sat tags this week so afraid nothing to go on. Its hard not to think of how the young kites, indeed how all the wildlife out there, are faring in this unforgiving weather. We really need a good long period of clear skies in order for these sat tags to boost up so all the recent snow showers have put paid to all that for the time being Im afraid. In the meantime, this week some red kite news did come in from a colleague, Martin Scott who works as the RSPB's conservation officer over on Lewis. A red kite was recorded over on the western isles on December 29th flying north east over Drimsdale machair, South Uist at 11.15am which must have caused quite a stir! This was most probably a juvenile kite venturing out in its first 2 years of life. A photograph was taken but its very hard to distinguish a wing tag from the right hand shot if indeed there was any there so no idea on the origin of this bird. Certainly an exciting spot and it will be interesting to find out if there are further sightings of this bird over the month or if it will disappear as mysteriously as it arrived!Monday, 28 December 2009
Christmas update
Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! Just finished looking at the sat tag data for yesterday and today. We received a package through for red kites Phoenix and Swooper Trooper, unfortunately neither containing any positional information. Looking a bit closer at the rest of the data has highlighted that the batteries are operating on low voltage, this maybe due to the shortage of bright light this festive season or another possibility is that the solar panels on the tags of the kites have become obscured by feathers.. so to cut to the chase, nothing new to report - again! Although we can feel assured that this problem we are having with the sat tags is a universal one and most probably down to a technological glitch. We'll continue to report any sightings we have of the kites at their roosts where they will be attempting to escape this winter chill by huddle method. Due another update next Sunday but in the meantime, all the best for a happy and healthy new year!
Monday, 21 December 2009
We have movement!
Yes, at approximately midday today we received word from two of the tagged kites. This time contact did not come through as a scrambled mish mash of unusable digits (something we have become so accustomed to over the past few weeks) rather we were provided with actual GPS positions. These offer much more accurate tracking of each of the kites and it is this information which we upload onto the website map. Enough of all that, so where are all the kites I hear you ask??! Well as mentioned the data came through for 2 kites in particular - Swooper Trooper, Culbokie Primary School's kite and another kite as yet unnamed but with tag number 83675. This last kite is not available for tracking on the website just yet but was tagged at the same time as the rest of the kites and we have been monitoring her moves just as closely. Some detail now and between the 10th and 12th December, Swooper Trooper had been moving between the Newton of Ferintosh, Maryburgh and Kilmuir areas of the black isle. The female kite with tag number 83675 has also been exploring in much the same area, most recently wandering over to Dochfour by Loch Ness, where she was on the 19th Dec.
Brilliant to receive news from these two and this makes us more confident that in the coming weeks the sat tags on the rest of the kites will start performing a bit better than they have done recently. Today being the shortest day of the year we can only look forward to an increase in the amount of daylight reaching the tags and charging them up so keep dropping by for the latest kite updates.
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Catching up at the roost..
This afternoon's visit to a black isle red kite roost yielded sightings of three of the sat tagged kites. The wing tags of kites Lewis, Spey and Sky were made visible by the orange glow of the fading day whilst we shuffled our feet to keep the cold out of our toes! In total we counted roughly 45 kites this afternoon and were treated to a spectacular piece of interaction - one kite dropping something from its talons that glinted in the light whilst below three kites grappled and tussled for its retrieval. Not a lot of noise tonight though, only the occasional whistling of approaching kites. We'll continue our kite roost watches to piece together the movements of our sat tagged cohort but anticipate that as long as the weather remains clear we should hopefully (fingers crossed!) be able to bring you a bit more detail from the tags themselves at the very start of next week.Wednesday, 9 December 2009
A special thanks
Special mention goes to John Sutherland who works as Data Management Assistant for the RSPB based at their headquarters in Edinburgh. John has spent a lot of time, working hard on a special computer programme for us to help download all the sat tag data in a faster, more efficient way. A lot of work goes into filtering out all the initial data that first of all comes pinging through as one email package into the final kite positions that you see here on the website map. You will see, Im avoiding going into all the technical in's and out's, basically what he's come up with will save us an inordinate amount of time that had previously been spent copying, pasting and re-naming several different files and that's for one kite only! Of course, with the sat tags not giving us much to go on at the moment, it will really be into the spring months when we will be able to use this programme to its full advantage. We will certainly benefit from all the time thats freed up that can be directed onto other kite related tasks! Thanks again to John for all his hard work!