2022
After my previous two visits to Gigrin Farm, I felt that I knew what to expect - although that did not make me feel any more confident about the challenging photographic opportunities. It is so hard to just concentrate on one bird!
I did, however, come away with a few images that I like.
I did, however, come away with a few images that I like.
There are so many birds, and pictures cannot do the experience justice
There is absolute mayhem when the tractor comes with the food.
Most of the time the kites will take the food back into a tree to eat, but occasionally they will feed on the wing, transferring the food from their talons to their beak as they fly.
The Jackdaws try to get a look-in too.
2020
Gigrin Farm is a great place to see and photograph Red Kites, and I've been there a few times over the years. I have never been successful at photographing flying birds, however, so when I booked a photography hide at the farm recently with my good friend Paul from Voyage through the Lens Cap Photography, I was somewhat apprehensive.
We were in the Low level Photographic Hide, which is described on their website as "only recommended for experienced photographers... much harder to photograph the kites from this hide"
Gulp. Admittedly, I am much more experienced now, with much better equipment than the last time I went eight years ago. I need not have worried, as I came away with a host of great images - as can be seen below.
Gulp. Admittedly, I am much more experienced now, with much better equipment than the last time I went eight years ago. I need not have worried, as I came away with a host of great images - as can be seen below.
Gigrin Farm became the Official Red Kite Feeding Station in 1992 in conjunction with the RSPB. Around 6 red kites were roosting on the farm at that time but by the winter of 2006 over 400 were coming in for food. The kites are fed every day at the same time, and the ensuing melee is a spectacle worth witnessing.
The food also attracts Buzzards
A couple of weeks later, I re-visited with another photographer friend, to the Big Tower Hide this time.
There is at least one bird on the farm that is leucistic, with very little pigmentation in his feathers.
It certainly won't be the last time we visit Gigrin Farm.
