Ospreys Return To Cumbria

First I have to report a wonderful sighting of one of the Red Kites. To the North of my village there is some fields that are owned and managed by the Local Authority for wildlife. Therefore I often see the Red Kites quartering this searching for Voles, Beetles and other tasty (to a Kite) items. However on Saturday I saw one of the Kites that had landed taking off from the ground. It was being dive bombed by a Jackdaw, just a single individual, and the harassment continued as the Kite flew in my direction. What fascinated me was the adapt flying skills of the Kite as it avoided direct contact. Then almost forgetting myself I suddenly realised that the Kite had a Frog or Toad in its Talons. As the Kite was just twenty feet above me as it passed over, as it avoided the Jackdaw, I could see it clearly.

As Corvids and the Kites often utilise the same food sources, the Kites often have to run the gauntlet of the Crows etc. Most of the time the Kites do avoid the attacks, but in a film that I shot last year, I caught a crow pulling at the tail feathers of the Kite I was filming.

It was also good to hear that the Ospreys that nested over the other side of the Pennines in Cumbria, last year, have returned. I hope that I can keep folks informed of them too.