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There are 11 blog posts dated October 2009

Sunday, 25 October 2009

Red kite round-up

I thought I would bring you news of all 9 tagged red kites in action in one update.  First of all our wanderer Phoenix is still in Ireland, latterly progressing a bit further east of the very north western corner of the Republic.  His last position was at 2pm on the 22nd to the south east of Carndonagh, a town on the Inishowen peninsula of County Donegal.  We should find out this week if Phoenix continues on this route, in doing so crossing the border back into Northern Ireland.  We havent had a fresh update on Spey yet, who was last recorded near Rhynie in Aberdeenshire but we should also hear this week if he's decided to rest up here or carry on with his travels.  Tweety Pie and Swooper Trooper are both exploring relatively near to each other in the Fairburn and Muirton mains areas and we have three kites, Lewis, Sky and Red Arrow who are crossing each others paths on a frequent basis in the Munlochy bay area.  We're seeing that on occasion these juveniles are even roosting in the same woodland after a hard days foraging so its great to see that as well as solitary wanderings away from the black isle, some of the kites are socialising locally.  Carrbridge Primary School's kite D, currently unnamed, has been exploring the glen of Strathrusdale since the 10th of October with occasional trips just to the north of Ardross and towards Ben Wyvis on the 17th.  Finally, the latest data through from Merkinch Primary Schools Red Rocket has showed us that after a trip down to Argyll on the 17th October and a lot of missing data later (due to low voltage of the sat tag's solar powered battery), he popped up by the shores of Little Loch Broom in the afternoon of the 21st!  Just goes to show the minute you turn your back these kites could be anywhere!

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

Spey meanders to the east

Whilst Phoenix continues his travels on the north west coast of Ireland, another male called Spey has found his way to the north east of Scotland where his last known position was at 5pm on the 19th near Rhynie.  But he forwent the traditional A96 route east from Inverness..  instead Spey took a rather convoluted route south from the Inverness area in the morning of the 16th, passing through the boggy expanse of Rannoch moor, on past scenic Glen Fyne where we presume he 'rested and was thankful', before reaching Airdrie by 5pm same day.  The following day Spey proceeded east through Lanarkshire, skirting Biggar, Peebles and Lauder and cropping up on the coast near Dunbar on the morning of the 18th.  He graced the Kingdom of Fife around lunchtime but steamed ahead north past Dundee and towards Glen Isla where he overnighted.  The following day he continued on his north easterly route, travelling through Glen Muick and Glenkindie before rocking up at Rhynie or thereabouts by 5pm.  In this position, Spey is fairly close to the red kites of the Aberdeen reintroduction project and if he decides to hang around in this area, making explorations a little further east, he may well encounter these aberdonian birds and possibly even choose to hang out with them over the winter.  Spey has blue left pink right wing tags with a yellow cross on each - sightings of Spey would be greatly welcomed!

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

Spey the kite

After a vote p7 pupils of Grantown Primary School have decided to name their kite, currently I, as Spey.  This is after the river Spey that runs through the busy town.  The river Spey is a real focal point in this area for visitors aswell as locals.   

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

Lewis the kite

Our kite is called Lewis. It is a short, snappy name. This was suggested by Katie, Kirsteen, Lauren and Megan (P5 girls). When we voted on all the suggestions theirs got the most votes.

From William and Ash P7, Farr Primary School

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

Tweety Pie in Glen Affric

The latest positions through from Tweety Pie show us she's been exploring scenic Glen Affric to the SW of the black isle.  From the afternoon of the 11th through to the evening of the 12th she spent a lot of time fairly close to Aigas and surrounding areas.  By midday on the 16th she had moved to the uplands west of Cannich, progressing onto the shores of Loch Affric that afternoon. 

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

Phoenix dashes over the Irish sea

An exciting development from Phoenix and he's currently resting up in the Donegal bay area of Ireland!  After apparently roosting in woodland just to the south of Kilwhipnach, close to Campbeltown on the evening of the 15th October, Phoenix made the leap across the Irish sea sometime in the morning of the 16th October.  We received a position from him at 12pm indicating he was in the Ballycastle area; by 5pm that day he had progressed SW from here towards Omagh.  The next position from the 18th at 11am had shown he had moved W from here towards the beautiful bay of Donegal.  We've contacted colleagues in both Northern Ireland and the Republic to let them know of this interesting movement and have passed on details of Phoenix's wing tags incase anyone spotting a red kite can confirm whether or not it is indeed Phoenix.  Both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have benefited from recent red kite reintroductions: in 2007 red kites were brought back to county Wicklow in the SE and in 2008, they were similarly welcomed back to county Down in the NE.  While at the moment Phoenix is quite far from both these locations, it is highly possible he will come across some of these Irish birds in his future travels around the emerald isle - if that is he decides to stay here.  Donegal bay is famed for its stunning scenery of low lying mountains and deeply indented coastlines with many natural lochs or loughs to use the local lingo.  For Phoenix, more important is how productive this type of landscape will be for him as he will definately need plenty food to keep  going after all his travelling.  Red kites are more familiar birds of rolling countryside, plenty low lying fields with pockets of woodland however they are highly adaptable and opportunistic so we're all confident that he will do well wherever he roams..

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

From Skye to the Mull of Kintyre - travels of Phoenix

Throughout the month of September, Phoenix had developed quite a pattern to his explorations, roaming back and forth between the black isle in the north and Moy areas further south down the A9.  On the 8th October however, Phoenix undertook an unpredented and gradual progression in a SW direction starting off to the NE of Moy, passing through Whitebridge on the Eastern shores of Loch Ness to end up in woodland to the W of Invergarry.  At 10am on the 9th Phoenix’s sat tag indicated he was moving through the beautiful wilderness peninsula of Knoydart, ending up on the island of Skye (Sleat) by 12pm.  By 5pm same day he was apparently resting up in woodland to the N of the village of Broadford.  Not much of a rest here though as Phoenix had made it back onto the mainland by 10am on the 10th with a position just E of Kyle of Lochalsh.  Throughout the day he progressed NE to another patch of coniferous woodland nearby Strathcarron by 7pm.  The data we received yesterday (13th) showed us where Phoenix had moved to during the 11th and 12th October and we were quite intrigued to learn that instead of heading further E to end up on familiar black isle ground, Phoenix turned due S, appearing to hug the west coastline to reach Argyll and the village of Kilfinan by 5pm (11th).  He progressed even further S on the 12th towards the Kintyre peninsula where his last known position was at 5pm just to the S of Campbeltown!  At this point, Phoenix is closer to the kites of Dumfries and Galloway and the recently reintroduced population in Northern Ireland than he is to his native black isle compatriots.  We should find out over the next couple of days which direction Phoenix chooses to continue in – it’s definitely hard to predict and as we have seen over the last few days, rather than lingering in one place for a few days, Phoenix appears to be wandering from one location to the next.  This is typical of the dispersal behaviour we can expect from red kites at this stage of their young lives.  Come back to find out what his next move will be...

Tuesday, 13 October 2009

Swooper Trooper troops all the way down to Glencoe.. and back again

There's been a couple of noticeable movements on the kite front of late and we thought we'd update you on the travels of Culbokie's kite, a female named Swooper Trooper.  Up until the 6th of October, Swooper Trooper had been roaming around the black isle and its western fringes, becoming familiar with farmland areas around the villages of Beauly, Muir of Ord and CononBridge aswell as Avoch and Munlochy.  We saw from the data that came through off her sat tag that she progressed from the black isle in a SE direction towards Cawdor and Dava ending up in woodland to the NE of Grantown where we presume she roosted for the night.  An early morning fix on the 7th indicated she was above the Cromdale mountains where she spent most of the day apart from a midday position over the forests of Abernethy.  She appeared to roost in the same woodland as she had done the night before that evening.  At 10am on the morning of the 8th, Swooper Trooper was located roughly 7 km E of Nethybridge - by 12pm same day she had travelled SW down to the Kingussie area with a position very close to Glentromie Lodge.  That afternoon she continued on her SW route towards Corrour and by 5pm, the mountains E of Glencoe just off the A82 Fortwilliam to Glasgow road.  Swooper Trooper didnt linger long in this area as we recorded her travelling back N (a position at Kilmonivaig) by 10am on the 9th reaching Inverness and the area around Craig Dunain by 2pm.  She appeared to stop over near Artafallie on the black isle that evening but further progressed N up to Inver by 2pm on the 10th.  An hour later she was on the black isle with a position just S of Cromarty.  It will be interesting to see how long Swooper lingers on the black isle before her next foray...

Saturday, 10 October 2009

Red kites in Autumn

Autumn is in full swing now and the chill of the winter months is already in the air.  For the red kites out there, aswell as all our other feathered friends, getting enough food and keeping warm are top priorities right now.  This is a great time of year to see kites out on farmland taking advantage of agricultural operations as farmers busy themselves with the harvest and preparing ground for the frosty winter and new growth in the spring.  Stubble fields following a harvest offer little protection to the small mammals that usually shelter there, safe from the view of keen eyed birds of prey.  In the same way, freshly ploughed fields expose tasty invertebrates including earthworms which kites are fond of feeding upon.  Red kites are so fervent in this behaviour that without waiting on the sidelines they will often follow directly behind a tractor alongside gulls and corvids to feast upon the unsuspecting prey items that are killed, injured or simply made more visible by this activity.  The diet of adult kites will by now have changed markedly from that which sustained themselves and their chicks during the breeding season.  During Autumn and Winter a wider range of food types are exploited - it has been shown that prey of intermediate size tends to be preferred when provisioning young at the nest.  Whereas invertebrates tend to be considered trivial in the spring and summer months and carrion at the other end of the size scale too big to carry back to the nest, freed from provisioning duties adults may now divulge in whatever takes their fancy!

Friday, 9 October 2009

Red Arrow

The following was written and sent to us by Conal from Beauly Primary School about how he came to name their adopted kite:
 
'I decided to name our kite RED ARROW because I thought of red arrow planes and how they are speedy and agile. Red kites are red and they fly well - just like the planes.
When I suggested the name most people in the class liked it.'
by Conal P6

Thursday, 1 October 2009

Website update

Just to let you all know that throughout the month of October the website will be undergoing some developmental work.  It's envisaged that this will ultimately create a new mapping section which will allow for much easier tracking of the movements of all the individual kites.  In the meantime, thanks for dropping by and revisiting the site - we hope the changes will go live by the end of October.

Thursday, 1 October 2009

Avoch's kite B

Kite B is staying pretty loyal to the Munlochy bay area.  Infact, apart from sporadic trips out to Tore, Culbokie and Bogallan areas, B has showed a preference to this area ever since fledging her parents nest back in the beginning of August.  Not all juvenile red kites will exhibit the dispersal behaviour they are so well known for straight away - some will infact choose to remain homebirds throughout their younger years.  Alternatively, it may even take a few months to a year before other kites feel like wandering away from familiar surroundings.