Blog
There are 5 blog posts dated December 2009
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!
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
All quiet on the kite front
For the second week running we have no news to bring you of our intrepid kites and they're whereabouts! What to do? Well, nothing unfortunately but sit back and continue to wait for the tags to sort themselves out. Either that or the kites are trying to claim back an air of mystery and have learned how to switch them off! We have one actual sighting of red kite Spey, Grantown Primary's adopted kite, dated the 7th. He was perched up resting in some trees on the edge of a large roost on the black isle. We'll continue to try and trace our kites down at these roost sites over the next week, but its a tricky task. Fading light coupled with the fact that red kites remain fairly inconspicuous once they're against a background of trees means that youre often lucky to read a mere handful of wing tags attached to kites that are actually there. Only the most high powered of optics can help in these conditions and so we will make our way to one such location tomorrow intent on finding out if any of the other sat tagged individuals are also hanging out in the crowd!Tuesday, 1 December 2009
No news from the kites..
Imagine our expectant faces on Monday morning, awaiting the regular ping in our mailbox to indicate the arrival of a fresh batch of data.. to find that it had all gone quiet on the kite front. Apart from a token measure from red kite Ruby's tag (a very small morsel of failed data!), we havent heard a thing all week from any of the tagged birds. We assume we'll hear more next Monday but in the meantime will keep an eye out for any rogue batches that come through - technology is a wonderful thing but only once its learned to cope with our highland weather! Anyway, in the meantime we'll let you know of any actual sightings of the kites whether these are at roost sites or from people managing to glimpse tags on birds out and about.
On a different note, this Saturday we'll be attending the Charleston Christmas Bazaar in Inverness helping passers by to create their very own felt red kite Christmas tree decorations! Surely not to be missed.. that and the sight of one of us failing abysmally to carry off a rather dated robin costume! This event runs from 11am-2pm at the Charleston Community Complex and will give you a chance to meet us face to face if you want to find out more about the Eyes to the Skies project.