One of the nice things about being forced to work from home is the number of Red Kites I've seen this Spring from the house. I've seen six singles over the house & garden in May 01, Apr 10, Dec 10, Nov 18, Jul 19 & Nov 19 up to the start of this year. In comparison, I've seen seven during the current lockdown (up to 19 Apr 20 as I'm writing the Blog Posts a few days behind the actual date of the sightings). All seem to be on the move & drifting East, apart from one which went North East. Normally, I would be out Birding at this time of year or working during the week. As a result, the Spring Red Kite sightings would be more likely to be seen around the Studland, or more recently, the St Aldhelms patch. This Spring has seen a higher than normal movement of Red Kites drifting East through the Purbeck coast or around the top of Poole Harbour. They seem to avoid crossing over the water in Poole Harbour, presumably as they wouldn't be able to get any lift to glide over the water. The assumption is they are mainly non-breeding first Summer individuals which are generally drifting East back to the areas where they were raised from the South West.
Red Kite: I saw this individual approaching at lunchtime & I had the chance to grab the camera (8 Apr 20)
Red Kite: Note there isn't a lot of wear on the primaries (8 Apr 20)
Red Kite: Note there isn't a lot of wear on the primaries. The pale tips to the primary coverts indicates this is a first Summer individual (8 Apr 20)
Red Kite: This individual is showing a lot more wear to the right primaries (9 Apr 20)
Check tomorrow to see the next day's wildlife sighting at #BWKM0.
I've had the camera close by for some of Red Kites & managed to get some reasonable photos of a couple of this year's individuals.
Although I saw my sixth Red Kite of the Spring on 13 Apr, I didn't have the opportunity to grab the camera as I was on a works conference call.
Check tomorrow to see the next day's wildlife sighting at #BWKM0.