On 20 June 2014 I paid my second
visit of the year to the red kite feeding station at Gigrin Farm, near Rhayader
in mid Wales, looking for images for my major project portfolio on feeding wild
birds and the reasons why we feed them. Red kites are fed meat at Gigrin every
day of the year, at exactly the same time of day (2.00 pm GMT or 3.00 pm BST).
The meat is claimed to be too good for human consumption (!!) and it attracts
up to 500 kites from all over the region: the sky seems to be filled with
kites! Gigrin ticks quite a few of the boxes as to why we feed wild birds.
Firstly it is a commercial enterprise (I paid £17.00 for the privilege of using
an elevated photography hide with open views, although an afternoon in a public
hide costs £5.00) and a selection of merchandise is available (I have three
polo shirts in different colours in my collection!). Secondly the supplementary
feeding station has been important in conserving and then increasing the
population of this majestic bird in Wales after it had been reduced to a
handful of individuals by the 1970s. Injured birds are nursed back to health here
in a rehabilitation centre and, where possible, released back into the wild.
Thirdly, it gives children an opportunity to see majestic birds of prey at
close quarters and hopefully inspire them to love and respect nature. Finally,
it offers unrivalled opportunities for wildlife photographers to photograph the
birds in action at very close quarters.
I have been to Gigrin many times
before and have recorded thousands of images of the birds in flight (they
hardly ever land on the ground, preferring to fly low and seize food items with
their talons). On this occasion I wanted to capture the entire feeding sequence
and, in particular, to photograph the birds eating in flight. I knew from past
experience that I had set myself a challenging target. Three hours and 800+
images (captured using the Nikon D7000 with 70-300mm zoom and 300mm f4 prime
lenses) later I called it a day and completed the 420 mile round trip to my
home. A lengthy session of “post production” resulted in just 40 edited images
being retained. Whether any of these will reach the final portfolio remains to
be seen, but the following montage (Image;
reading across and then down from top left to bottom right) gives a summary
of the various feeding “events”, from the time the meat is put out to the
moment that a kite swallows its last morsel of meat.
Image: Red Kites at Gigrin, 20 June 2014
