I am again in Frenninge to get some more photos of the Red Kites (Milvus milvus). This time I am aiming for real close-ups as a complement to the more distant environmental shots I got so far this winter. It has been raining for a week and most of the snow is gone now. There is a part of the field in front of the hide towards north that still has some snow but otherwise the land is grayish green. I arrived yesterday night and it was still raining. The morning was grey and dull with drizzling showers on and off.
After more than 5 and a half hours in the hide with only 2 Common Magpies (Pica Pica) visiting for in total 3 minutes this day goes down as a very slow and boring Sunday. The same happened at Christmas time where I spent ca 15 hours with not a single bird showing up. And my conclusions at this point are that from what I can see there is pretty much no idea to sit here if there is no snow or at least very cold. So either I have to find another way of attracting the birds of prey or just stick to cold and snowy days, which of course is OK but it gets damned cold in the hide as well…
I start to pack my things and am about to get my cameras into my backpack when a Red Kite lands. The bird sits still for a few minutes and leaves. The sun breaks through the sky and I decide to sit the whole day. As the afternoon goes by there are Common Buzzards (Buteo buteo) and Hooded Crows (Corvus corone) as well as Rooks (Corvus frugilegus) on the field in front of me. The Rooks just walk around in a big crowd and do not interact with other the birds but with their black feathers showing a blue or bluish-purple sheen in the bright sunlight they are very beautiful. I also have a far stranger visitor when a juvenile Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) lands and start to fight with the Hooded Crows for food. From time to time there are Red Kites in the sky above me but they do not go down on the field and they seem very careful. The sun sets at five PM and I sit a little bit longer but it soon gets bluish dark and low activity on the filed again.
In the end a very long day in the hide – from dusk to dawn with only a thermos of coffee and two sandwiches I leave starving but very happy with what I have seen. I also have the revaluate when the best time is to get birds down for photography – it for sure helps when it is cold but the change of weather today make me think that also sun contributes to success, which of course is nice since it also helps the quality of the pictures to a large extent.
