More work with Kestrels...............and a new hide.

 I have been working a new location now for several weeks now which features Kestrel's and Red Kites and predominate species, I have a large normal hide, but I wanted something smaller, portable and lighter that could be deployed quickly.

After doing some research I settled on the "Nitehawk", this available on Amazon, but also the manufactures do sell direct to the public, this was the way to go, delivery was made in 24 hours, great service.

Stock image

Now the hide itself is a pop-up hide with an integrated chair, which when you are spending a number of hours on it, comfort is very important, and for my first six hour session in it, it was fine.  Inside the hide, it has  four small windows, two on each side, these are done up with zips, and can be opened as needed to provide ventilation and observation spaces.

The main window at the front opens in two places, as seen in the image above, it opens fully, a way I would not use, but when this is zipped up, their is a smaller unzippable window within it, it is a a perfect height went seated, all I did was with the aid of some self adhesive velcro, I fitted a piece of scrim netting so I could not be seen by the wildlife, but it enabled me to see out, this small modification turned a good hide into a even better one, the hide comes in its own carry bag which if needed will go on your back with the two straps, also included were pegs for holding down in strong winds. - All in all , a good and recommended  product, that came with good service, you can find it here Nitehawk

Ok, now to the wildlife, on the day the Red Kites did not really come in close enough to get any decent shots, but I had the company of two Kestrels on the day.

The nice thing about this location is, a number of threes have been cut down, thus providing a wealth of different perches to use.

After visiting this location now a number of times, it seems the the Kestrels follow the same pattern, the come in, sit on some telephone wires then dive down on the prey from their.

The action started within 30 minutes of so after setting up, I am please to say that it carried on through the day, at one point I did not know which way to turn, I had a bird both on the left and the right at the same time.

A pattern did emerge, the bird would land on the wire, wait for a while to make sure it was safe, dive down on the prey, start to feed on it their, then is would take the prey away into the long grass to finish feeding.

I have already checked out next week ends weather forecast, planning my return.