Gloria was with me to learn how to use shutter speed, aperture and ISO together to get good exposures of the birds as they swooped and dived between bright blue sky, bright white clouds and down into the darker vegetation below.
It's a tough assignment for a beginner, but Gloria had already had a whole day of tuition with me previously, plus the booklet I'd written specifically for her to help explain exposures and composition and how to use her own particular camera. So, armed with the basic theories and a bit of previous practice, it was a slightly nervous but brave lady that stepped into the hide with me that morning!
We arrived early so had plenty of time to run through and practise the techniques of changing exposure settings manually, and following a fast-moving subject.
A hot chocolate and biscuit break later and we were ready for the main event. The hide had filled up by now with other eager Kite followers, so we squeezed in together and waited for the Red Kites to arrive.
We were all treated to a very interesting and knowledgeable talk from one of the staff members at the farm before the birds were lured in by the promise of food. Did you know that Red Kites only weigh about 2 lbs? They have a huge wingspan though of nearly 6ft, and that's why they can stay in the air so long without needing to flap about very much!
Another interesting fact we found out was that Red Kites in the UK were almost hunted into oblivion, mainly by landowners who mistakenly believed that the birds would carry off their livestock! How something that weighs as little as bag of sugar would have the strength to carry off a lamb is a bit beyond me, but apparently that's what they thought, and so believed they were totally within rights to bring the Red Kites to the brink of extinction.
The Red Kites we saw were extremely agile and superb opportunists, picking up the food and eating it on the wing.
They will take rodents and small birds, but anything larger is beyond them and they rely on carrion; coming in after the crows have torn open the carcass for them to get in.
The Vermin Acts of the 16th Century listed the Red Kite as vermin, requiring it to be killed without exception. Only a tiny colony in mid-Wales remained, as the Red Kite became extinct in Scotland and England. Thankfully there is now a lot more knowledge about these beautiful birds and the re-introduction programmes are a huge success right across the UK. So close to total annihilation were the UK's population that researchers at Nottingham University discovered the entire population of kites in 1977 were derived from just one female! That really is quite astonishing!! The chap at the farm explained that chicks are now being introduced from other parts of Europe to help re-establish the population and also to obviously help widen the gene pool.
So, no longer seen as vermin, the Red Kites can now be viewed in so many parts of the UK. If you get a chance to visit the Argaty Red Kites, (http://www.argatyredkites.co.uk/) or any other Red Kite feeding station, it is a fantastic... glorious.... experience! If you would like to learn wildlife photography from a leading expert, then Argaty's resident photographer Dean Bricknell gives lessons at the farm. Recently voted 'favourite nature photographer' in the Scottish Nature Photography Awards, you're in great hands!
If you are interested in a 3 day one-to-one tuition with me, then I will be delighted to guide you through all the steps you need to get your camera off the automatic settings and start taking photographs that you can proudly hang on your wall. At just £185 for 3 days (may be consecutive or spread over time to suit you) and 2 instruction manuals written by me specifically for you, it's a great gift for anyone... or even to just treat yourself.
Rebecca, x
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