Thursday 10 February 2011

Feeding the birds with a difference

I was in our local Co-op shop a couple of days ago and could not help notice a chap in  front of me who chucked four large packets of minced beef on the counter. "Having a party"? quipped the girl at the till. "No" he replied "This is for the Buzzards and Kites - they find feeding difficult in these gales".



Wow! I thought all the effort to get people to care for our wildlife does get through.  What an amazing bloke going to some trouble and expense to help his birds.  I have no doubt he gets great pleasure from seeing these majestic birds of prey coming to his garden.  I stopped short of catching him up to ask where he lived and to beg a photograph opportunity.



I also reflected on the benefits of the various Red Kite feeding stations in Wales and the part they must be playing in helping these iconic birds in hard winters such as the recent spell.  It must be a very effective way of ensuring maximum survival in first winter birds which in turn has led to the burgeoning population in Wales.  This species is still spreading and has reached many areas outside its recent range.  Birds are now regularly seen in Pembrokeshire, the Carmarthenshire coast and on Gower.

1 comment:

  1. Joan and I will certainly never forget that spectacular event on our trip to Wales, when you brought us to a couples home and we watched the lady of the house feed Red Kites by scattering five gallon buckets of sheep entrails across her yard. Birds zooming in and grabbing chunks off of the grass on the fly, like Ospreys catching fish. The sounds of the birds and the noise of the wind through their wings as they strafed the yard was thrilling.

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