13/8/06
The kites in rehab have been released back into the wild so we'll be keeping an eye out for their progress.

The building of a tower hide is now awaiting the return of the builder from his holiday. I've now thought of another job for him - the gateway through which I drive the tractor each day has always been a draw to photographers and kite watchers alike but unfortunately this often results in the crows and the kites flying off into the distance.
This area is too close to the food for the birds to be happy when humans are in sight.
So, we now intend to move the gateway to the far side of the last hide and to build a 'standing room only' hide in its place.

Your would be much appreciated.

31/7/06
The Welsh Kite Trust have this evening released a Press Release.

I've added it to the site both as a normal page and in a printer friendly format.

The two kites in rehabilitation would have been released today but for the heavy showers that crowed in this afternoon. Despite the rain, the numbers of feeding birds was undiminished and continued to come throughout the afternoon.

24/7/06
Kite numbers were a little lower today - not at all surprising as it was very hot and muggy, and not at all inviting for flying..
I'm hoping to have a day at the Royal Welsh Show on Wednesday so have arranged for my duties (meeting and greeting, and of course feeding the kites) to be covered so all should run as normal..

23/7/06
A huge number of kites greeted me on reaching the field today, and amongst them were a number of birds from "over the border". Chilterns, & Yorkshire kites were spotted, and one of this years chicks from Rutland had made the journey - White (underline green) F7. This sighting has since come under scrutiny as F7 does not appear on anyones books.

16/7/06
The hot weather doesn't seem to have dented the numbers of kites visiting too much. The lack the availability of worms etc., due to the dry ground, is making life harder so the knowledge that a free top up will be available at 3pm is doubtless a welcome relief.

The tractors fan belt has been slipping intermittently and the result was a most horrible squeal when driving around the feeding area so apologies to all that have had to endure that for the past few days - I think I've now cured it..

On going to feed the young kite in rehabilitation yesterday evening I was somewhat surprised to find two birds! As the only other person to have a key to the aviary Tony Cross must have called in with the bird without my knowledge. We'll doubtless be in touch later..

6/7/06
The kites were queuing up in force today. and who could blame them after the torrential rain that accompanied storms yesterday afternoon. Having put out the food in heavy rain the kites were starting to come in immediately but by the time I'd parked the tractor back at the farm the heavens had well and truly opened and the birds had all headed for the limited shelter given by the trees. The storms continued most of the afternoon so everyone/thing was well and truly drenched and few of the kites managed to feed.

My ISP arrived with his friends last night as they had found that they needed to use a Mac.. The result of this, apart from the company now minded to get an Apple computer themselves, was the offer to me of video streaming. This will fit in with the wireless system and cameras that are on the agenda for later this summer so live nest footage may well be being streamed onto this site next spring. Exciting times!

2/7/06
Kites have, for the third day running, landed and fed in front of the hides. Two of them (Red Bull's-eye, and Orange 68) have previously been in for rehabilitation but third bird to land has no tag so has not come into contact with the aviaries.

Tony Cross arrived at the farm late this evening with one of this years chicks. It is now sharing the same aviary as the current patient and will be with us until it is fit to fend for itself.

26/6/06
Yesterday evening I received a call describing the finding of a red kite in trouble. Arrangements were duly made to meet 'Phil and Ruth' who had found the kite near Talybont. I had the better of this arrangement as my journey was well short of the distance that the bird was being brought.

The kite was kept in the house over night and I took it to the Hafren Veterinary Group in Llanidloes today but alas its wing was too badly injured for any treatment so the kite was duly euthanised
Aalthough this story had an unhappy ending it should be noted that the bird is no longer suffering. The elbow joint was completely missing and this injury is unlikely to have been caused by anything else but for a wind turbine, making this the third fatality from these wind farms.
23/6/06
The weather has been very unsettled of late with hot sunshine one day and cold winds the next.
This has led to quite a disparity between the numbers of visiting kites from one day to another.

Its the weather that has been blamed for the terrible news I was given this week - that a great many of this years red kite chick have been lost in one valley. If this has been repeated across the breeding range the result doesn't bear thinking about.

I've been taking an increasing numbers of calls from unhappy subscribers to the "Friends of the Welsh Kite". Lack of communication from the Welsh Kite Trust is the problem but at this time of year all efforts are being made to record those chicks that are fledging so I would ask that a little extra patience is given to Tony Cross as I'm sure he will be in touch as soon as time allows.

As you may have seen from the front page, I've now put my Canon XL1 up for sale as I've invested in a larger camera to finish off the DVD content.

13/6/06
The White red kite has been putting in appearances quite often again - usually late in the afternoon although a rather chancy move near to the main feeding time was taken recently it paid for its boldness by being robbed of the food it had picked up so had to come back much much later when the air was less thick with kites.
The kite with the broken wing has returned from Telford and is now in the rehabilitation aviary.
A Chilterns kite has been in the vicinity of the feeding station but not yet close enough to read the tags other than to say that they are both yellow = (2 year old from the Chilterns).

Tony Cross was instrumental in putting a camera on a Buzzards nest very early one morning last week and the results were very pleasing. I've not yet managed to lower the size to anything less that 16mb so its not likely to be on the site for a while yet!
If all goes to plan this year we will have wireless cameras in place next spring together with auto upload - as they say - Watch this space...

2/6/06
Apologies for the missing news of late. I had been adding my news directly to the server page but during the last site update I managed to overwrite the entire last 2 months worth of entries! I then lost heart for a while as I had no back up to turn to..

The Latest news: The RAF are going to consider Gigrin becoming a no go area for low flying during the afternoons as red kites and low flying aircraft are not a good mix.

Numbers of red kites visiting are somewhere between 100 - 200 daily.
There are no kites in for rehabilitation at present but one came in for a short time but on the discovery of a broken wing bone it has been taken to the bird hospital in Telford.

The ADSL project has gained a foothold as the new telephone line in can support BTMax so the uploading of video from cameras is that much nearer.

5/4/06
Meat supplies are back to normal so that's one less thing to worry about! The White kite has been in each day for the past week but is late in the afternoon as it is well down the pecking order of the kites currently coming in for food.

28/3/06
The pulling of the empty trailer in high winds was not without it's "exciting moments" but I now have enough meat to last until Friday and am promised a delivery on that day. Bureaucracy had caused the suppliers problems but all should again be running as normal by the next Mondays delivery. The kites knew nothing of this of course and large numbers came in for their 3pm feed.
Many of the kites should have left for their nest sites but are late this year because of the extreme weather we had in the beginning of the month
27/3/06
Major problems! My Meat supplier has let me down. Last Thursdays delivery was only enough to get over the weekend. I was promised a further delivery today but, Nothing has arrived! I used the last of the meat today so am now left hoping that I can get to the plant tomorrow morning (an 80 mile round trip), and that they have the amount of meat I need.

26/3/06
The Clocks have gone forward an hour so feeding will now be at 3pm, until the clocks again change in the autumn..

11/3/06
Here we go again! Its 1am and as I type this the snow is falling outside my window. Everything is covered with a white blanket and the snow is still falling in a continuous sheet. I put the sheep in the barn tonight, primarily because I am short of troughs with which to feed them outside, but it was a good move for them!

The kites will doubtless be queuing up for the 2pm feed tomorrow.

The picture (left) has not been altered in any way but for being shrunk for this page and it shows just how these fantastic birds can contort their bodies.

2/3/06
Snow in the morning gave way to blue skies in the afternoon so I used the opportunity to take some photographs and take more video. The kites were still coming in when I left the hides at around 5pm.
Snow is still covering everything but the roads are now clear.

1/3/06
Snow, again! The 1st of March came in with a real taste of winter with inches of snow already down by morning and more falling as the day went on.
We had blue skies for a while but just as feeding time approached the sky darkened and a blizzard ensued.

It made for an interesting afternoon with kites coming into sight at short notice before performing their daring acrobatics to snatch food from buzzards while other kites came down to the snow covered earth to grab a piece of meat themselves.

The image on the left is of one such kite. .It was around 3:45 before the skies again cleared but it was well worth the wait as the wonderful colours of the kites were brought out by the snows reflected light. The chases and robbing were amazing to behold as were the shapes they got themselves in..

The image on the right was taken at some distance but it is the right way up..
Clicking the picture will bring up a larger version.
More snow has since fallen and more is forecast overnight so tomorrow promises to be just as exciting!!
Earlier news

26/2/06
Snow, although not enough to completely cover the longer grass, gave a wonderful backdrop to the kites when the sun shone briefly this afternoon. A number of the birds came in before I had had time to put out little more than half the food and this continued for most of the afternoon. The white kite was once again in evidence and has now progressed well up the pecking order so presents itself quite early in the proceedings. More sunshine is promised for tomorrow so that should mean a little more warmth than was the case today.

24/2/06
A major shift in temperature with ice and snow on the surrounding hills meant that there were no problems with folk getting 'lost' while the kites fed today. The white kite turned up with the 'second sitting' and stayed for most of the afternoon before choosing its moment to dive in and take food.
19/2/06
After a week of high numbers of red kites arriving right on time, today, with sun and blue skies ,they were reluctant to come down from their thermaling until 3:15!..Later in the afternoon it was brought to my attention that a number of folk had been 'hiding' behind a tree a short distance from the feeding area. This may well have caused the some crows consternation and with that, influenced the kites to stay high in the sunshine. I'll be more vigilant tomorrow and keep an eye out for those 'off track..'
The White Kite was here again today and despite the extended wait we were treated to a wonderful display of aerobatics in the sunshine.

10/2/06
We've seen another day with the crows ferociously protesting in the trees but despite this the kites took no notice and came in in good numbers to feed on what was the second day with deep blue skies. I didn't hear any of our visiting photographers complaining about the light today :-)

23/1/06
Back to normal!!
Kites came in in their hundreds, and the buzzards and corvids were happy to feed so whatever it was that spooked them over the last few days must have moved on..

22/1/06
Kite numbers have been fluctuating wildly this week, as we appear to have "something" lurking near to the feeding station at feeding time. The crows have been very unhappy and a chorus of alarm calls has been greeting my putting out of the food. Buzzards too have been keeping their distance until much later in the afternoon.
While we do have Goshawks in the area they don't usually cause problems until very much later in the season.

We occasionally have visits from hawk centres escapees but I've had no reports of sightings to date. Whatever it is that is worrying the crows, so instead of the majority of the kites having been in by 3pm, the feeding stretches out over the entire afternoon, with the largest number of kites coming in at the end.

That’s been the position for the last 3 days – we’ll see what happens tomorrow!

26/12/05
Cold today so thought the kites would be early but I'd not taken account of the local hounds being in the vicinity.. The kites did come in at 2pm, but not in any great number until around 3:30pm as dogs were around and some were even taking meat at some stages of the afternoon! Shouldn't be any such problems tomorrow.

21/12/05
Re-surfacing of our yard took place on the 20th - we are now open again - Closed for Christmas Day but open again from the 26th.

25/11/05
Snow!! Around 4" fell and left a wonderland as a backdrop for the red kites when the sun shone for the whole of the afternoon Anything between 200 - 400 kites now come in - feeding costs are now £150/week on the meat alone!

23/11/05
I arrived back home from my break to find the BBC waiting to film/interview me - I'm afraid I was not at all on the ball that day but the kites more than made up for my shortcomings with a spectacular turn out in the sunshine in the afternoon. The programme will be the first of a new series to be broadcast next year.

14/11/05
There will be a new face at feeding time for the next 7 days while I take a break from the farm.

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9/11/05
Visiting kite numbers have mushroomed to their winter levels and this has meant that, despite the rise in quantity, the food disappears a lot faster than has been the case earlier in the year.

We have a fresh red kite in for rehabilitation. This was last years chick from Pembrokshire.

24/10/05
There have been two white red kites here for the past week or so - one is this years chick (orange 03 tag) while the other appears to be at least a two year old.

Monk Optics arrived with the freshly pressure tested binocular so the 25x100 is once again on it's pedestal in the picnic area.

Please accept my apologies if you've been trying to reach me via the Contact page - to my embarrassment I discovered that I'd inadvertently linked to the wrong code for the sending of email so for the past month all messages from there have been sent into oblivion!
The contact page is now once again working as it should..

10/10/05
Iolo Williams, wildlife presenter, together with his camera crew came today - the programme is to be shown on BBC around Christmas time. A good 300 plus kites came in so everyone with a camera must have been busy when the sunshine broke through the clouds.

3/10/05
The wedding went off extremely well and the very happy couple left for Southampton this morning. Pictures may appear on the site later but will that will depend on the return of those currently unavailable!!

A buzzard caused a stir today. It is thought to have been hit on the head with a glancing blow from a diving kite. It keeled over and lay quite still for a time and this caused every crow and kite to leave the area. The buzzard recovered later and with that the crows came back and were quickly followed in by the 'flock' of kites
Another young kite was brought in this afternoon - from Shropshire! It looks well so will be released tomorrow.

1/10/05
My youngest sister is getting married today(!!) so naturally I won't be on hand for feeding the kites but we've some very good friends coming to take on the work, including the car parking, shop, and the kite feeding.

There are between 200 and 300 kites coming in now and this has meant my having to increase the amount of meat being put out for them - something approaching 60kg/day now!

23/9/05
The two kites in rehabilitation have been released having recovered enough to be allowed to taste freedom once again.
Around 200 kites are feeding at present.

The Gigrin flock of Blue Faced Leicesters were sold in Hereford - that was quite an emotional day with these very well thought of sheep having been the product of 20 years of my fathers work.

15/8/05
This years (2005) "white" red kite has made an appearance at Gigrin already. I'll try and film/photograph the bird at the first chance I get.

Many of the older kites are changing their feathers and these birds are seen in the early part of the afternoon - an extreme example of which is on the right of this page.. The younger kites are still pristine and come in through the latter part of the feeding period.
We now have another of this years young in for rehabilitation. This has had a very poor time and besides being malnourished it has received treatment to its right wing for an infection before coming here.
The Gigrin Blue Faced Leicester Flock is to be sold at a dispersal sale next month as it is very apparent that I am unable to carry on that side of the work here at Gigrin now with the responsibilities of the red kite centre taking so much time.

Kites, both from Scotland and the Chilterns, have been seen this past week in and around the feeding area.
We have started to make progress on the future developments here at Gigrin Farm - a short run down of which is now found here>

15/7/05
The young kite (< the one on the right) has now been released after spending a short time in the same aviary as the bird with damaged feathers.

Having a blind right eye has not prevented the kite from flying figure of eights in the pen or from feeding.


It now sports an Orange tag on its right wing (no 99 >) and, having been released back into the wild, has since been seen landing on the red kite feeding area on the last few afternoons.

Two kites from the Chilterns have been spied over the last few days. Yellow/Yellow are the tags so they are last years birds. Their numbers will be taken when time allows.
15/7/05 Back from my break I had a heart stopping moment when I found the rehabilitation aviaries both empty! It turned out that Tony Cross had taken both for evaluation by a vet. "E" was deemed to be untreatable as the condition of his legs was deteriorating so much that one foot was useless and the other was going the same way. Given that he would very soon lose the ability to perch or feed the decision was made to put him to sleep.

The second bird has gone to a falconer for treatment of the constant losing of feathers.

Since then another two kites have been brought in - one of this years chicks has a blinded eye due to collision with a branch, and the older bird has not had any such accident but has instead had an altercation with crows and lost feathers.

During this hot weather the majority of kites have been arriving a good hour after feeding time and sometimes even later as they enjoy the height gained in thermals.

20/6/05 These past few days have seen greater numbers of kites than I've ever seen here at this time of year. It's possible that the new rules on carcass removal have a part to play in this.

There are to be a few new faces feeding the kites over the next 10 days or so, some of whom have already been seen , as I'm hoping to get away for a short break as of the 15th

14/6/05
We now have 3 kites in rehabilitation all due to crows attacking these beautiful birds. The kite that has been here for 10 months should molt out in a few weeks and provided that the feathers balance out a release date may be set. The two new additions have come in over the last ten days. Crows had chased the first kite until it took refuge under a hedge. This afternoon the crows attacked none other than "E" of the New Year Rescue. The feathers have been pulled out from many areas and the breast of the bird is bare and is far from the proud bird that graced the rescue pages. A lengthy stay is now likely.

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8/04/05

It is with the greatest sadness that we inform you that Mr. Eithel Powell passed away in the early hours of Thursday 7th April 2005.

As well as having so much enthusiasm for the red kites he was also a very keen photographer.
I've put a few of the images he captured whilst on safari last autumn on this page. This trip was a life time's wish.

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30/03/05
Just to complicate matters before feeding time for the kites today, a car forced the lorry delivering our weeks meat supply into the ditch of the lane just below the farm. I saw a number of cars turning before the road was cleared so I hope the incident did not spoil your plans.

Red Kite numbers had slipped a bit with the warmer weather but today came in while I was still putting out the meat. Nesting is high on the agenda of the mature birds and so there can sometimes be a far more leisurely approach to the feeding.