Last weekend I visited
Red Kite Feeding Station in Llanddeusant at the western edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales.
Flocking for a feeding frenzy
It was 15 minutes to 2pm and already more than 50 red kites had gathered, taking their positions in the trees and gently soaring back and forth above us. Their enchanting whistles filled the chilly welsh air.
When the owner of the feeding station appeared the kites tensed in anticipation, they knew what was coming. Since 2002 the same thing has happened every day - a bucket of meat and bone unceremoniously dumped out into the middle of a field. The switch was flicked in these elegant gliding birds as they became voracious scavengers. Immediately dozens of kites plummeted, all focused on a meaty morsel, while others began chasing and mobbing those who had already made haste with the goods. Aerial dog-fights took place around us, several birds flying in formation to chase a juicy chicken leg that was swiftly being carried through the air. More and more birds arrived for the onslaught until the last scrap had been pinched, then all of a sudden the air was still and quiet. It was 3pm and time to go home.
The Kites soared majestically above us, waiting for their gory feast of bones and meat.
The kite in the middle is attempting to steal some meat from the kite on the right. Meanwhile the kite in the upper right is getting away with a hefty chunk. (Photo: Paul Williams)
The kites at the bottom are engaged in an aerial dog fight over food. (Photo: Paul Williams)Shitehawks - a brief history of Red Kites in Britain
Red kites were once ubiquitous scavengers thriving on the carrion and garbage that gathered in the towns and villages of medieval Britain. They were known as Shitehawks and William Shakespeare described London as 'a city of Red Kites and Crows'. In the 15th century King James II of Scotland took a dislike to these flying vermin. He decreed that they should be 'killed wherever possible', and signalled the beginning of what was to be a rapid decline in the species north of the border. In England and Wales however, the kites services to waste disposal didn't go unrecognised, here they remained protected and continued to keep the streets clean of rotting food.
Sadly things took a turn for the worst in Tudor times, when new 'vermin laws' rebranded red kites as 'food theifs' and black-listed them as one of a number of animals who were in competition with humans for produce grown in the countryside. Local parishes paid bounties for their carcasses which were nailed to church doors alongside that of Weasels, Stoats, Badgers and Foxes. Such persecution continued until, at the end of the 18th Century, increasing numbers of gamekeepers were employed on country estates. They killed many more birds, and by the late 18th Century Red Kites had bred for the last time in England. Only a handful remained in Wales.
Little was done to reverse the red kites fortunes in Britain until the 1980s. A widescale reintroduction programme saw them recolonise large parts of the country, from Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland to the Derwent Valley and the Chilterns, and in 2010 four pairs were released in Northern Ireland. Today over 600 pairs are breeding in Britain and in 2006 the first Red Kite for over 150 years was recorded in London.
Thanks in part to breeding stations like the one at Llanddeusant, Wales continues to be a stronghold with over half of Britains population.
Read more about the Llanddeusant centre here:
www.redkiteswales.co.uk
Photographing the flock: The biggest problem is that there is very little time for composition as so much is happening so fast. I just pointed my lens into the flock, trying to follow some birds and hoping for the best. Unfortunately the sun hid behind clouds for most of the feeding so to compensate for less light I increased the ISO to 800 and speed to 1/4000 aperture 6.3. The birds come really close overhead and so I only needed a focal length of 90mm. This image was originally against a dull gray sky.
