Birds in Wales

Welshie Big Adventure in Wales

A European Robin saying hello.

Since I was a little girl, I have always enjoyed listening to and watching birds.  Their colors, sounds and movements fascinate me. Being able to identify the sounds of birds gives me great satisfaction.

While I cannot identify may birds outside of my own backyard, I do enjoy using my Merlin birding app whenever I am on travel.  Merlin allows me to record the sounds of birds close by and then it helps me to identify which species are local to the area. I have identified many birds in Wales because of Merlin.

I believe this is a Merganser.

Since arriving in Wales two weeks ago, I have made several recordings at the cottage and during our walks.  Today, we went to Blwch Nant yr Arian to see the Red Kite feeding.

Red Kite Numbers

Not long ago, there were only a couple pairs of breeding Red Kites in all of Wales.  Through conservation efforts, there are now over 100 breeding pairs in the wild today.   

Red Kites circling at feeding time.

The daily feedings occur to this day because when the birds are young they can get weak during their search for food.  providing at least one proper meal a day continues to encourage a stable and growing population of the species.

As feeding time approaches the number of birds increases.

There is no special program for humans run during the daily feeding.  Instead, a person with a wheelbarrow rolls out a twenty pound bag of meat and begins to toss the meat towards the birds.  The mass of circling birds flies lower and lower until the food arrives and then they begin to swoop in for their meal.

Red Kites do not land to eat but instead glide in and grab what they can.  Diving and soaring repetitively, they compete with the European Herring Gull for the meat.

Waiting for the food to arrive.

At the start of the feeding frenzy, I tried to take photographs to show the sheer numbers circling above me. 

Swooping in for food.

But sometimes photos just get in the way of a good moment.  So, I put the camera down and just watched and listened to the scrum of birds competing and eating, and eventually flying back up into the sky until tomorrow’s session.

returning to the sky after the feeding.

The Red Kite center also has several walking trails and markers in both Welsh and English peppering visitors with tidbits of information on the birds. If you are near Aberystwyth and would like to see the feeding, plan to arrive before 2 PM when it begins.  There is a nice little caravan selling coffee and snacks and a good clean set of portable toilets.