A Kestrel @ Rye Meads

[CharlotteW]

Hello All, 

Here is my first post.

I had a great day at Rye Meads today, having seen a couple of firsts (for me) - female pheasant and sedge warbler but I think it was the kestrel that stole my heart today which is why I chose to post this one. I've seen  them a few times but not this close up. 

It was also a pleasure to meet Denis who very kindly told me about this  site

 

P.S If I've made the photo too big - let me know and I'll make it smaller. I think I posted it too big on the first attempt so hopefully it looks a bit smaller now. I don't want to be the one to crash the site

[Ryewolf]

I see kestrels a lot, usually as I'm driving and there's no place to park up to photograph them. We get a lot of pheasants up where I live in Lancashire, the males are more obvious as they are the ones usually running along the road in front of the car... they do this a lot.

Denis is a great guy, I've met up with a few times over the years, not easy when we're about 250 miles apart.

[Ryewolf]

11 minutes ago, CharlotteW said:

P.S If I've made the photo too big - let me know and I'll make it smaller. I think I posted it too big on the first attempt so hopefully it looks a bit smaller now. I don't want to be the one to crash the site

No the first image was fine, I normally post images that are around the 1400pixel length

[CharlotteW]

We get the odd one or two  in London, I guess because they aren't so much of a regular occurence I get a bit excited about them Well actually I get excited at seeing everything at the moment, especially as I only really got into bird watching since this January, there are many birds I am only seeing for the first time.  I only saw my first male pheasant about a few weeks ago in Bushy Park. Shocking really. Wish I'd discovered this passion a few years earlier, still better late than never. 

[Ryewolf]

To be honest there are lots of birds in towns and cities that you probably haven't seen, I saw a Cormorant in the middle of Manchester last year and there are Peregrine Falcons nesting in the middle of Blackburn in Lancashire. Pheasants are quite common because they are a game bird and hunted each year

[CharlotteW]

We have cormorants galore in London and herons, we're lucky in that respect because we have a few good wetland sites. If you're ever in London and want to see cormorants and herons then the place for that is definitely Walthamstow Wetlands. I don't think I've ever seen so many in one place. 

It's true what you say,  there are definitely a lot of birds in the city you wouldn't imagine to be there. I'm looking forward to seeing the ones I've not seen yet.     

[johntwo]

8 hours ago, Ryewolf said:

I see kestrels a lot, usually as I'm driving and there's no place to park up to photograph them. ....................................................

I know just what you mean.  So frustrating.  We even have Peregrine Falcons nesting in the spire of a local church and occasionally, they fly low over the house but by the time i've grabbed the camera.............................

Nice capture Charlotte.

[Rogerw]

Nice one Charlotte, that's our resident one , nice capture,

 

[Clicker]

I started   with birds in the garden after enticing them with seeds and nuts  Roger  travels all over  the country it seems, looking for hawks and harriers especially.. Im hoping to get some decent pics of redkites this summer on the Welsh borders. We have a member from the Gower in South Wales ( Ryland .)..  whose username drives me mad as it's bfb1150gs  and I can never remember it 

He has posted some  very nice red kite  pics...

Here is a link to one of his posts ...

http://www.tipf.co.uk/forums/topic/24770-gigrin-farm-again/?tab=comments#comment-178018

 

and another one ...

http://www.tipf.co.uk/forums/topic/24017-red-kites-at-gigrin/?tab=comments#comment-176749

 

[Kobione]

Very nice catch Charlotte - we have falcons and Wedge Tailed Eagles in our area, but as already mentioned by Rye, not easy to be in the right place to catch them!