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Our local red kites have been fairly active again in the new year, and the mild weather has allowed them to continue with one of their favourite food sources; worms! Many farmers are ploughing up stubble fields in preparation for spring crops and the local kites and buzzards (along with quite a few common...

A few weeks ago we were delighted to find that one of our nests had a breeding female who originated from outside Aberdeen. Red/pink E8 was born in 2009 near Dunkeld as part of the Central Scotland population. Below is a picture of her on the nest when her offspring were still quite small a few weeks...

The Aberdeen red kite webcam is not showing live footage today as there is a power cut at VSA Easter Anguston Farm for maintenance work on the cables. As you've probably seen the young kites are spending lots of time away from the nest (probably in nearby trees) but come back in regularly as they...

Firstly, apologies for the lack of blogging; I'm having trouble with the laptop at home and as you can imagine I'm not in the office much at this time of year! Our webcam stars seem to have flown the nest, but are coming back in regularly for food and to roost at night. This morning I was...

Well, I'm sure you've all been as glued to your computer screens/laptops/fancy phones as I've been, watching our three Aberdeen Red Kite chicks (live on our webcam!!!) grow from fluffy cute little white bundles to almost adult size, with a wingspan of around 5ft 7, in just six weeks! Over...

It feels like the wind will never stop here. After last weeks gusts of 70mph, we're getting blown about again and so are the kites. Fortunately I don't think we have lost any nests, but the youngsters on the red kite webcam were holding on this morning and staying low in the nest. When mum (Fairview...

The good weather of the last few weeks has been fantastic for so much wildlife and has enabled so many RSPB fieldworkers to be out surveying etc. For me it has enabled lots of woods to be searched looking for red kite nests. It's meant lots of long, but fun days out in the field, so computer work...

After a fantastic breeding season with six successful nests producing 15 young we should have a lot of kites to look for flying around Aberdeenshire. However, this is now getting more difficult! Most birds have now lost their radio transmitters, which means that we have to rely on the unique two digit...

Today we started tagging and ringing our red kite chicks. A little bit later than expected, but that is probably due to the later breeding season following on from the cold winter. So far we have ringed, tagged and measured 11 youngsters from 4 nests. Below is a snap of a brood of 3 chicks back on the...

I've been below the radar a bit recently, like many of our adult kites who have gone off to moult and recoup after a busy summer season. But like them also I'm now back and ready for winter! In the last couple of weeks the kite roosts have come into their own again with up to 20 birds sharing...

The last few days have really shown how diverse (and great) my job can be. On Friday myself and some local members of the Raptor Study Group attached the remaining birds with radio transmitters and wingtags so they are ready for release. Yesterday I had a lovely walk up to the cages in the sunshine...

You can always tell when things are busy with the kites as I usually forget to blog! Over the last couple of weeks we've started to release birds which is always really satisfying. Although I've seen nearly 70 young kite taste freedom for the first time I'm always a little nervous when...