Pure Joy!

In relation to the entry by Chris Wells I too can report that one of my nests (which happens to be my favorite pair of kites!) has a single young downy chick in it which I would age as a few days old. It was an absolute joy to watch both the parent birds alternately feed the chick this morning. The mother bird was so delicate during the process. Following this she lowered herself gently down onto the nest to brood the chick. This is Kite watching at it's best! Glorious morning sunshine lighting up the nest with singing blackcaps pied flycatchers blackbird and thrush complementing the whole scene. This pair failed last year even though the female sat the full term. I suspect the chick died very soon after hatching or the nest was predated. The farmer on whose land this nest is located is a dear friend of ours and he is so proud of having a kite nest on his land. He was overjoyed when I told him about the chick and in fact he gave me information about another possible pair in my area which I'm checking out. Farmers have a bad press on occasions and certainly there are issues which concern conservations like ourselves but in terms of my kite monitoring I have nothing but praise for them especially those in my immediate community. Yesterday evening one of my kite landowner farmers called by my home to ask me what the situation was with regard to a pair of birds on his land and luckily I had checked the nest a couple of days ago and was able to report that the female was sitting tight. He is a major local landowner and told me of what was probably the only kite nest in the area in 1973/1974 which was on his uncle's land. I remember visiting that location with Bill Condry in 1971. This farmer was in his youth then and told me that their schoolmaster John Davies was keen on birds and took his class to watch an RSPB film on kites which was shown in Aberdyfi. So his interest in kites was fired then. So again he is immensely proud to have a pair of kites nesting on his land.

Postscript:- In relation to the information I had following my conversation with a local farmer this morning I visited the location given and discovered a new nest and probably a new pair of untagged kites so the information he gave me was spot on. I engaged in a very positive rapport with the landowners who were very pleased indeed that they had a kites nest on their land. Again these are conservation minded members of the farming community and illustrates the great importance of kite nest watchers maintaining a good 'working' relationship with farmers and other landowners.