Seen Over Your House Today

[PR19_Kit]

a third one in tow by an unspecified low wing single engine aircraft. 

I suspect it would have been a Piper Pawnee tow plane. As these are no longer in use as crop dusters a lot of them are now used by glider clubs,

More than likely it would have been from the Black Mountains Club, as it was nr Talgarth, and both they and the nearby Usk club have Pawnees. The Usk club used to have a Wilga, but there's NO way that could be 'low wing'. 

[Captain Canada]

Another rare bird spotted today !

[TheChronicOne]

Picture doesn't do it justice! Right over the house, damn near. A KC-135. Not sure why it's even here but it did circles around the airport for about half an hour. It was just long enough for me to drive home and take this picture the very second I pulled up..... it was apparently on final and landed right after this so I got lucky. 

Anyway...  nothing with 4 engines ever comes here so it's a rare treat to see it flying around. Last time something with 4 engines was here was that Galaxy I found at the airport but I didn't get to see it flying. I saw this one flying and at one point it went directly over head. I was in traffic, so I didn't take a picture... but it was awesome.

[Captain Canada]

Cool. One of my favourite aeros. Always great to see !

[PR19_Kit]

While staying with my friends in Northants, the sky this morning has been filled with red kites. Not the sort that are on strings, the sort that flaps, or rather DON'T flap! 

They're amazing birds, they can thermal soar for ages with out a sign of moving their wings, and they just go round and round, amazing. They also seem to prefer turning left for some reason, and very rarely reverse their turns, I wonder why?

[NARSES2]

They're amazing birds, they can thermal soar for ages with out a sign of moving their wings, and they just go round and round, amazing. They also seem to prefer turning left for some reason, and very rarely reverse their turns, I wonder why?

Do thermals predominately turn in the one direction ? Something in my brain says they do, but it's been known to be wrong a few times before 

[kitnut617]

They're amazing birds, they can thermal soar for ages with out a sign of moving their wings, and they just go round and round, amazing. They also seem to prefer turning left for some reason, and very rarely reverse their turns, I wonder why?

Do thermals predominately turn in the one direction ? Something in my brain says they do, but it's been known to be wrong a few times before 

Most weather systems, big and small, rotate anti(counter)-clockwise (at least in the northern hemisphere). When gliders/sailplanes soar, do they fly into the wind or with the wind ? Birds I think would fly with the wind.

[PR19_Kit]

Thermals don't turn at all normally, they just go up in general. When gliding and you hit a thermal you turn toward the lift to try and centre the aircraft in the thermal, so if your port wing give a nudge upwards and the variometer goes up a tad you turn to port, and vice versa.

If the weather systems do turn it's on a vast scale, and thermals are relatively small by comparison.

Once, while flying the highest performance sailplane I've ever flown, a Duo Discus, I turned to port into just such a thermal, and to my amazement there was a red kite directly opposite about 25 yards away turning in the same thermal! He was looking across at the Discus thinking 'What the devil are you?' no doubt. 

[Rheged]

Red kites look magnificent, and there's a FEEDING STATION for released ones about 15 miles west of me. There can be up to 150 of them circling there at times.   They are a successful re-introduction to the UK.  Given the way they are spreading out, Kit may have them above his house in a year or two.

[kitnut617]

All the raptor type birds are just magnificent to watch, we have around our place quite a few species.  A couple of weekends ago me & mrs kitnut were doing our 'monthly' big shopping trip at Costco in Red Deer (about 85km away), and while refueling my truck at their gas station, I looked up and saw a Bald Eagle circling above us. Really neat to see those guys around too (we had one in the trees of our yard for about a week a few years ago). On Saturday our son was on his way to our place and he was all excited about something when he arrived, he told us he'd just seen a Bald Eagle too, which was only a couple of miles from our place where he saw it. He said it was perched on a post and took off right in front of his car when he was driving down the road. He said it was huge too ---

[PR19_Kit]

Given the way they are spreading out, Kit may have them above his house in a year or two.

I certainly won't complain about that, they're fascinating to watch, specially for a glider pilot. 

[kitbasher]

The reintroduction of red kites in the High Wycombe area is possibly close to being too successful, due to locals leaving food out for them.  Saw a couple doing slow dives into a garden in the middle of Peinces Risborough a few weeks ago.
We often get them over our house in wild West Middlesex just off 4-5 miles finals to Northolt.

As for bald eagles, have watched a mother on the nest with 2 adolescent chicks that looked capable of flight.  This was on a footpath out of Quidi Vidi NL towards St John's.
Closest I've been to one was in Port Hardy BC last year.  Walking down a street, heard a loud crack and about 25-30 ft away was one, had just ripped a 2 inch x 4 feet branch off the tree it was in.  Then flew off, branch in beak.
Apols for ghe name drops but tgat's where they were!

[NARSES2]

One year when I was working a pair of Peregrine's nested successfully on the roof of the office block next door, and this was in the middle of Croydon. It could get quite distracting watching them circling looking for prey.

[zenrat]

One year when I was working a pair of Peregrine's nested successfully on the roof of the office block next door, and this was in the middle of Croydon. It could get quite distracting watching them circling looking for prey.

I misread that as a pair of penguins...

[PR19_Kit]

One year when I was working a pair of Peregrine's nested successfully on the roof of the office block next door, and this was in the middle of Croydon. It could get quite distracting watching them circling looking for prey.

I misread that as a pair of penguins...

Could be, Croydon's a funny sort of place after all.