16. October 2012 · 1 comment · Categories: Birds

RedKitesFeedingStation
Subsequent to my very tatty example, Jenny sent in some wonderful picture of Red kites at the feeding station near her at Bellymack Farm in Laurieston, Kirkcudbrightshire. I imagine it's quite something! I wonder if it's the same one they featured on Springwatch a couple of years back?

You can just see the green tag on the wings of the bird in flight below. Thanks for sharing the great pictures Jenny.

RedKiteTaggedWings

Jay

It seems as if autumn swept in over just a few days and now the country is transformed. Here are a few things I've noticed recently.

  • The feeders are smothered in Goldfinches and Greenfinches.
  • Magpies and Jays are much in evidence. Jays in particular always seem to suddenly appear at this time of year, though you had hardly seen them at all for the other months. I've blogged about this before. Twice.
  • The trees are showing their autumn colours – some of them are golden yellow already, but the full display is yet to be seen.
  • It's raining. A lot.
  • Fruit and veg crops didn't fare well with the topsy turvy weather over the year. I read that a famous English vineyard has had to ditch the entire year's grape harvest as it's just no good.
  • The garden spiders have mostly had their fun and there aren't quite so many webs to walk into of a morning.