Allotments 4 All

The most beautiful bird has arrived again and is busy on mouse control.  It swooped down in front of me and then perched on a hazel bean pole to eat it.  I think I will get some hazel poles especially for it.  I could not believe how close it was it me.

I think it is a red kite, it is certainly not a buzzard and close to it was much bigger than I thought.  It was around last year.  Looks like it is also thinking of building a nest, I hope it can find a mate.   I have only seen the one.

There have been lots of mice on site they seem to be taking up residence in the compost bins.  So a bird of prey will be very welcome indeed.

There are signs they are killing pigeons too. 

Red kites have very long wings with white patches, and long forked tails. Check it's not a buzzard, which have shorter wings, no white patches, and broader tails. They're our commonest bird of prey, and I'm seeing them regularly over my site now, a mile from the centre of Birmingham. I wouldn't expect either to kill a pigeon uinless it's sick, but something else could easily be doing that.

Red Kites rarely take prey - they have relatively weak legs for a raptor, and feed mainly on carrion.

Whatever it is it certainly takes mice and I have seen it going for pigeons in flight.  So its well ok.

Anyway I have seen lots of buzzards they are grey and huge and have noticeable feathery plus fours.  This is a much more beautiful graceful bird.  I have not seen any white bits on the wings  It is very noticeably red.    I am not sure it is as big as a buzzard.  I have looked at all the pictures in my bird book and none of them looki right.  I will try and take my binoculars to the lottie and see if I can see it better.  It sores quite high.

You're firmly in red kite territory so there's every chance that's what it is.  They can look a bit like a buzzard in soaring flight, but the red kite's long forked tail, twisting as it soars, is very distinctive.  But it's quite a bit bigger than a buzzard.  I've also only ever seen them swoop down to the ground, not drop onto prey like a buzzard.  I've read that they predate mostly on carrion but I was never very convinced that was true, though redclanger's point about the strength of the legs is interesting.

But if I can just get on my soad box a minute:  2nd-generation anti-coagulant reodenticide like bromadiolone is having a big effect on red kites.  Something like half of the red kites autopsied have an LD50 body load, so that's more or less a fatal does.  Because red kites are carrion specialists they are particularly susceptible to secondary poisoning by picking up dead and dying rats and mice.  It's a legal requirement to make a thorough search for carcasses when poisoning but it's clearly not being done with anything like the necessary efficiency.  When I challenged my own council for example, they said they couldn't afford to spend time searching.  The situation is made very much worse when poison is left down permanently because rats are particularly good at developing an immunity under these circumstances, so it's not even an effective way of controling them - incidentally, Newbury was one of the first places that 2nd generation anticoagulent immune super-rats emerged in the early nineties.  Much better is not to poison at all and open up the habitat so kites and other predators can do their job and keep a natural balance.  There, I feel better now.

If they are bigger than a buzzard then I do not think I am right.  I think this bird is smaller than a buzzard.     I looks a bit like a kestral but is much bigger.  There are several specialist bird breeders in the vicinity.  I had a Temminck's Tragopan in the garden last year. 

Quote from: Digeroo on March 24, 2010, 20:48:42
I had a Temminck's Tragopan in the garden last year. 

I've never heard it called that before. ;)

I'm wondering whether it could be an escaped falconer's bird.

a Temminck's Tragopan is a kind of pheasant from Tibet.  It was something of a surprise to see it wandering round the garden. 

Merlin? one of the Harriers?... if you've got a harrier pretty much every mammal smaller than a fox that isn't a hedgehog is a target........ and they'll have a go at birds on the wing.... they're not that agile but a normal pigeon has the precision steering of a bent dodgem car....

chrisc

Rather thrilled in one way because her mate has arrived.  He is very obviously a Kestrel.  I supposed that I had not realised that the female was so much larger and so red.  He is much smaller and grey/red brown.  But they are giving the pigeons/mice a good run for their money. 

We kind of take Kestrels for granted as they're a bit common, but they are beautiful little falcons.  Way too small to take on a pigeon, but you have to admire their spirit.

It's the only bird of prey which is resident on my site, though we get buzzards and the odd sparrowhawk passing through.

As it happens I see very few kestrels around Newbury.  Red kites I see every day, often buzzards, and sometimes sparrow hawks.  We had a peregrine falcon roost on the big ugly postoffice building in the middle of the town all last summer, though she's moved on now.

Peregrines nest on a large block on the other side of the city. I see them occasionally, but no more than that.

Quote from: Unwashed on March 31, 2010, 11:06:16
We kind of take Kestrels for granted as they're a bit common, but they are beautiful little falcons.  Way too small to take on a pigeon, but you have to admire their spirit.

Never take them for granted.  There are two pairs where I walk the dog and about 6-8 pairs on my way to work and everyone one is a wonder.

We have peregrines on the Cathedral Tower every year... there's even a web-cam to watch them....

I was sitting in the garden with the mother in law when a sparrowhawk flew in and perched briefly on one of the apple trees. I got quite excited if I'm honest. Considering I live in the centre of Basingstoke the variety of bird life is amazing. Love watching the wren  bobbing around, woodpeckers on the apple trees, blackbirds throwing all the mulch everywhere and the thrush beating the hell of snails. We have great tits and blue tits nesting in the holes in the apple trees and the shrubs are fall of nests of other birds

I've noticed several other birds of prey (buzzards/kites) cycling over the allotment and surrounding cemetery being harrased by smaller birds.

We find remnants of pigeons all over the place - garden, lottie and cemetery. Not much other than a amost perfect circle of feathers.

THese days the average urban garden has far higher concentrations of birdlife than the average field.... indeed if you wanted to see a lot more birds in this country (and every small non-specialist mammal except field mice pretty much) then building decent low-density housing estates on a load of monocultural fields would be the way to make it all work economically.......

chrisc

I've got field mice, in central Birmingham. Don't give up on them!