Jimmy Doherty of the BBC programme "Jimmys Farm" dropped in on Saturday together with film crew. Jimmy fed the kites - if in an unorthodox way. Rather that the food being thrown in an arc Jimmy chose to shovel the meat in heaps and kick the food to spread it on the field..

The gentleman in the suit, outside our Red kite Interpretative Centre, is the Mayor of Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. The town of Llanwrtyd Wells is twinned with Cesky Krumlov and on a visit to the area, having previously viewed this web site, the Mayor had requested that a visit to Gigrin was included in his itinerary.

So, as can be seen above, last week was a very interesting one! We've now had the bill for the vet having visited to decide on whether we need a licence to transmit video from the rehabilitation centre - in excess of £300 - not bad for 1/2 an hours work, and we are still waiting for the decision on the licence!

A big thank-you to Onduline Ltd as they have kindly donated replacement sheeting for the entire roof of one of our 50ft hides. Snow last winter showed up a major fault in the roof - not enough timber had been used by the constructors so without support the sheeting had given under the weight of snow.
Onduline had sponsored the original roof so they are being very generous in doing it all over again. The sheeting lasts up to 25 years in normal circumstances and is ideal for the hides as it doesn't need painting, deadens the sound of rain or hail, and has high insulation properties. Our current builder knows what to do and work should commence next week.

I'll not be on the scene for the next 7 days so, as happened in January, family and friends are rallying around to keep everything running in my absence - I'm taking a laptop so urgent emails will still be answered, and the photographic hide bookings will still be taken.

30/03/08
Kite feeding is now 3pm as the Clocks have changed and we can't tell the kites!

The kite feeding centre was visited by a VIP last week and a press release is due soon - details of the visit will then appear here.
Kite numbers continue to hold up and the atrocious weather of late meant that the food was gratefully received!
Meat supplies have been 'difficult' on times but we think we are now back on track with the number of suppliers having been increased. More 'news' will appear soon but the clocks changing meant a quick dip into the page was needed most urgently.
20/03/08
Spring is in the air and the kites have nesting on their minds so visiting the feeding station has to be a quick job! This means that they are far more bold, so much so that I have been a full 20ft nearer the hides when putting out the food of late and the kites still pour in so very close to the tractor!
We are short of help these days and with the holiday season getting nearer the need to have more hands on the job gets all the more pressing. As we open at 1pm there are only a few hours in the afternoon to fill but these can be extremely busy! Feeding the kites is one job to fill for short spells as I cannot be there every single day anymore.

11/03/08
Red Kite numbers are still holding up despite the time of year meaning many should now be thinking of other things. Nesting takes place this month and the next so courtship is on the cards for many. The rough weather may well be reason for the numbers coming in. Birds are not waiting for me to drive away any more but dive in close to me as I put out the food.

We've lost one of our dogs this week. Bessie, pictured both here and on the "Really Wild" page. While on times not terribly sociable , she was both my close companion and our guard dog at night for ten years or more and is sadly missed.


Tony Cross brought in a kite for rehabilitation last week but it was soon seen to be far too poorly for our facility so later in the day it was taken to a bird hospital for treatment. We are still waiting to hear whether we are allowed to transmit the rehabilitation video. Watch this space!

22/02/08
A blizzard of red kites descended on the feeding station yesterday. As I put the first shovel full of meat a jackdaw landed just a few feet away and, without a care in the world, began to feed.
The kites saw this and a few moments later were sweeping past me in numbers as I put out more food.

As I left I looked back to see what was probably one of the largest numbers of kites we've seen here for weeks. I must find a way to photograph these events - not easy when either wielding a shovel or driving the tractor..

15/02/08
Crumbs, doesn't time fly!! Apologies for the lack of news on the site - I thought I must have been back in here since last month..!!
Well, the "Zoo" vet came here on the 10th of Feb. and gave his approval for most of the ideas. The only sticking point was who would have access to the streamed video when the red kite chicks (destined for Ireland) are in the unit in June. The vets will now have sent his report to the Welsh Assembly so we now wait for their decision on our proposal to send live video from the rehabilitation units to the Red Kite Interpretative Centre.

After what seemed like weeks of rain we have now had days of continuous sunshine. Unfortunately this has once again coincided with the annual February problem - Goshawks. They pass thorough the valley, terrifying (if not also eating!) crows in the process.
So, when the sun shone at feeding time every single crow has waited for another to be first to step out into the field! The kites will not come in for food until they see the crows settle on the meat so this has led to waits of up to 1.5 hours on the sunny days, but only 2 minutes on cloudy days..! Bird brains..
31/01/08
I'm back, and refreshed from my long overdue break. The kites continued to be fed and numbers are still increasing. An injured kite was briefly in for rehabilitation but was soon well enough to be released back into the wild again. I intend building a page about this facility but will wait for the decision of the vet on the 12th before publishing the material. Representatives from Tooth and Claw and lpscreativemedia were here earlier in the week to both photograph and film the red kite centre. The results are eagerly awaited.
18/01/08
Despite the atrocious weather the kites were full the skies again today and were not far behind me when I put out the food!
For the next week (beginning tomorrow) I'll not be on the scene but instead the feeding, cutting up of the meat, and numerous other duties will be taken on by those who so ably took over during my recovery from an operation back in mid October so I'm more than happy that all will continue as it should in their capable hands.

13/01/08
We now have a date fixed in early February for the veterinary inspection of the proposal to transmit video from the rehabilitation aviaries to the red kite interpretative centre.

The weather has been pretty poor over the last fortnight with very few days of sunshine to show off the colours of the red kites.

Meat supplies were getting a little low for a while as quantities of meat delivered were infrequent after the Christmas break so a partial rationing had to be employed for a couple of days. To counter this I cut the food up a little smaller so that all would have something albeit not the amount the birds are used to. Things are now again back to normal..

06/01/08
The number of visiting red kites are now approaching their highest for the winter with anything between 250 - 400+ feeding over the afternoon. I have tried to capture the spectacle on camera but as you can see on the left I've had very limited success to date..

Updates to this page have been in short supply due to my design s/w refusing to work but after a complete reinstall of everything from the OS up I've now a working system again so news should appear much more often in future.
20/12/07

It's been freezing cold but sunny, and that's been the way of it this week so far with to
morrow supposed to be similar. The cold weather has brought with it hundreds of red kites and despite raising the amount of food put out it rarely lasts much more than an hour now with the sky full of these beautiful birds.

For the past 2 months I've not fed the kites but instead, the food has been put out by a number of our friends.. Tony Cross (Welsh Kite Trust), Richard Knight (Kite Watchers Wildlife Breaks) and for the past month the help has come from Mr Andrew Abberly, Ross Abberly, and Mark - Cerrigroes Farm, Llanyre.
A hearty thanks to all involved.

2008 is going to be very different in that we are losing our long term helpers Bill and Joy Tickle. Bill has been the volunteer car parker since we started and Joy has helped out in the shop. Cornwall beckons and that's just too far away to commute!

14/12/07
Apologies if you have tried to add your details to the Snow Alert page since 1/3/07! I've had many revisions of the scripts and the site is also now on a different server.. All of this conspired to prevent the form from working.. It is now operational again and you will receive an email of confirmation.
The skies were full of kites today and the white kite was heading for the food as soon as the meat hit the floor. We've not seen the bird for over a week but it was unmistakable amongst its normally feathered friends.

We've now heard that another veterinary inspection is required by the Welsh Assembly before we can be granted permission to broadcast from the rehabilitation centre into the interpretative centre.

As with most things at this time of year, it will be the New Year before the vet can come here but I've been told that, so long as he is happy with what he sees, permission will be given. We only started on this road 18 months ago..

I hope you liked the flash movie on the front page - if you have any comments please

29/11/07 BBC were filming here on Tuesday for this coming Sundays edition to Country File. Things got off to a rocky start due to the kites not liking one of the cameras.. but on it's retrieval from the field all went to plan and hoards of birds descended much to the delight (and relief!) of those watching.

I've just added a number of new pages on the web site about the red kites in Yorkshire. Doug Simpson MBE has compiled a newsletter and this is replicated here..

The Welsh Kite trust have produced new Christmas cards and these may be found here..

Snow fell here last weekend and while we only had a light covering the English/Welsh border had up to 10 inches to contend with!

15/11/07
There's been a large gap between updates to this page. Partly due to major broadband problems, and partly due to the updating of the computers operating system and the subsequent incompatibility with the web design software..!

The valley was full of mist this morning and it even hung around for the earlier part of the afternoon but as kite feeding time approached the sun burst through and we had one of the afternoons for sunshine in a long time.

Yesterday was very interested to see a Monk Cyclops being produced from a car along with its camera attachment.
It was the first time I'd seen one up close. Having been allowed to look through the instrument (red kites sitting on fence posts 3/4 mile away were clearly viewable) I went back to the house to ask the maker if they would supply one as a demonstration model. The result.. It could be here tomorrow or, failing that, on Monday!!

Anything between 200 and 350 red kites are currently visiting and on some days, when viewed from the farm yard, their numbers completely obscure the tractor as it goes around the field.

28/10/07
The clocks went back last night so we are now feeding at 2pm and this will be the case until the clocks change again in the spring. 300 plus red kites are descending on the feeding station daily with it sometimes looking as if there's little space left in the air as they crowd over the field. The white kite is amongst them most days. We are still waiting for the Welsh Assembly to decide on the red kite centre cameras but one of these days we'll surely have the decision and the images can then be beamed in.

10/10/07
Well, I'm now able to do a bit on this machine again. I won't be seen feeding the kites for a while though.. so many thanks go to all those who are keeping everything going on daily basis. including my youngest sister Lorraine and my mother who were left "holding the fort" while I was away, while my sister Letty provided transportation to and from London last week.

On BBC Wales tonight it was announced that the Red Kite has been voted Wales' favourite bird. Filmed for the programme at Gigrin on a Sunny day the kites could not have looked better.

The White kite came in today - with around 300 other kites milling around it very quickly took its chance and actually made off with food so its bravery paid off.

30/09/07
News on this page has been in short supply lately as I've been under a lot of pressure on other fronts.
I'm heading to London for an op this coming week so there have been a lot of preparations to make sure everything continues as it should.. "Bob the Butcher" will be cutting up the meat, Tony Cross (Welsh Kite Trust) or Richard Knight (Kite Watchers Wildlife Breaks) will be feeding the kites. Bill Tickle (Cap & Yellow Jacket) will be on parking duty most days, with Alun Lloyd on the gate. Mrs tickle will be in the shop. I've printed out more information for the hides, and.. the meat supply still needs sorting out - that's tomorrows job!

Red Kites.. numbers are increasing almost daily and the White Kite has been coming in most days - sometimes early and sometimes late. Being in earlier means it is far more likely to be robbed and generally harassed but as it has to follow its particular group it has little choice on timing.

12/09/07
Amateur Photographer magazine have named Gigrin as the best place in Europe to see red kites and to photograph these beautiful birds! Anything between 200 - 300 kites are now visiting the feeding station. They are coming in on time now that the weather is cooler. Different groups come in at different times during the afternoon, with a final flourish of the stragglers (including the white kite) between 5pm and 6pm most days.

Foot and Mouth is again plaguing the workings of the rural communities with the major sales of stock that take place in the autumn now cancelled for the foreseeable future. The Red Kite Feeding station is Open. There is no contact between visitors and our livestock.