Sue and I are spending a long weekend in Marlow in Buckinghamshire. Marlow is on the River Thames about halfway between London and Oxford. We arrived mid-afternoon and were immediately greeted by a Red Kite flying low over the car park.
Photo by Tony Hisgett (http://www.flickr.com/people/hisgett/)
Red kites were nearly driven to extinction in the United Kingdom by human persecution. A small population survived in Wales and I remember traveling up to the Aberystwyth area in order to see one of the handful of birds left in the wild. In the 1990s Bird from Europe were released in the Chiltern hills between London and Oxford and they bred for the first time in 1992. There are now reckoned to be over 600 pairs in the Chilterns with a population of between 1500 and 2000 birds. The re-introduction was so successful that by 2000 birds were being taken from nests in the Chilterns to be re-introduced into other areas of the UK.
And so as we walked down the main street of Marlow we can see 6-8 birds flying over the street. Truly this is Red Kite central and an easy place to see these once rare beautiful birds.
In the evening we walk down to the River Thames and are accompanied by a flock of Swallows,Sand martins and a few House Martins all feeding on the evening insect swarm.
Bird List
Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser)
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Great Crested Grebe [sp] (Podiceps cristatus)
Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea)
Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Red Kite [sp] (Milvus milvus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Common Tern [sp] (Sterna hirundo)
Common Pigeon [sp] (Columba livia)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Sand Martin [sp] (Riparia riparia)
Barn Swallow [sp] (Hirundo rustica)
Common House Martin [sp] (Delichon urbicum)
Long-tailed Tit [sp] (Aegithalos caudatus)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
Mistle Thrush [sp] (Turdus viscivorus)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii)
European Greenfinch [sp] (Carduelis chloris)
European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)
Pete's Favourite Things 