Scotland Holiday Day 9 – 14th July 2012 : Red Kites at Doune

Scotland Holiday Day 9 – 14th July 2012 : Red Kites at Doune

On the Saturday we had to get the ferry from Mull to the eastern coast of Scotland. Today would mostly be driving but we thought that we could fit in a little bit of birding. We drove from Oban across the Trossachs  to Crainlarich, Callander and Doune. We stopped at Lerrock’s Farm in Doune because we happened to be passing at just the right time for us to drop in to see the feeding of the Red Kites that we had also attended last summer. We were hoping to repeat the same experience but we were were told that a lot of people had already booked so the hide would be busy.

Undeterred we did the slight diversion and arrives at Lerrocks Farm at around 2.30pm. The other visitors had already walked up to the hide so we went up there to catch up with them. Unfortunately the experience wasn’t what it had been the previous year and with the hide packed with people it was hard to get a good view. The benches in the hide overlooking the field near the farm were already full so we had to strain a bit to see the Red Kites. Even then there were perhaps four or five and they fed for probably no more than fifteen minutes. We were on the other side of the hide which looks on to another field where food had also been put out. Here only a couple of birds showed up and a Buzzard perched on a telegraph pole nearby. All in all it was a bit of a disappointment but we did get brief looks at a few Red Kites and that is always exciting. It has to be said that it was nothing like the spectacle of the previous year and when the ranger wanted us to leave the hide the rain had come tipping down and we got extremely wet walking down the path to the farmyard and car park. Oh well – you win some and lose others. We still saw some fantastic Red Kites though.