Red Kites are Coming

Red Kites are popping up over the fields by the airport, and drifting nearer to Nairn, so keep your eyes open for them.  They are spectacular birds and make for great wonderful opportunities.

The RSPB have a great site at Tollie, by Dingwall.  After years of educating and nurturing, the reintroduction of the kites is a success with breeding pairs all over the Black Isle.  Tollie is an RSPB feeding station where a snack is put out each day at 13:30 GMT (14:30 BST) to attract the kites down to show off their fantastic acrobatic flying abilities.

Rest assured that this is only a snack and not enough for the birds to become dependant on it.  Its main aim is to attract visitors to witness the spectacle and enjoy these wonderful birds, with the hope that the enthusiasm generated will feed back into the wider community, hopefully resulting in the birds being less likely to fall prey to the harm inflicted by man.

Here are a few shots I've taken over the year.  A couple has them feeding and the final one shows a tag to identify where the bird was born.